Molluscs on the menu: what they include and where they appear

What it covers

Point 14 of Annex II of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, still in force in the UK, covers “Molluscs and products thereof”, with no exceptions. It includes three groups, all common in seafood kitchens:

Fresh, cooked, frozen, tinned or dried, they all count, and so do their derivatives: ink, stocks, extracts and sauces. They can also appear as an ingredient in processed products such as some seafood sticks: check the label.

Where it hides

Ink

• Black risotto, squid ink pasta, and bread, buns, batters or croquettes coloured with squid ink.

Stocks, rice and pasta

• Paella and seafood risotto, spaghetti alle vongole, seafood linguine.
• Homemade shellfish stocks made with mussels or clams, and bought shellfish stock in cartons, pots and cubes.

Soups and stews

• Clam chowder, moules marinière, cioppino, bouillabaisse and seafood stews.

Fried food and sandwiches

• Calamari, salt and pepper squid, fried clams, oyster po’ boys.
• Fritto misto, which mixes fish and squid on the same plate and in the same fryer.

Cold dishes and tins

• Oysters on the half shell, seafood salads, octopus salad.
• Cockles and whelks in vinegar, smoked mussels, tinned clams and squid.

Asian cooking

• Oyster sauce in stir-fries and noodle dishes.
• XO sauce, made with dried scallops.
• Sushi and sashimi with octopus, squid or scallop.

Cross-contamination

• The fryer, where calamari share oil with fish and chips.
• The grill or flat-top, after cooking squid or octopus.
• The cooking water from octopus, mussels or clams, if it gets reused.
• The seafood display and trays at the bar or raw bar.

If you cannot separate the process, mark the affected dishes “may contain molluscs”.

Molluscs and crustaceans are not the same

This is a very common mix-up, and in English the word “shellfish” makes it worse, because it covers both. A prawn is a crustacean (2); squid or a clam is a mollusc (14). Some people are allergic to one group and not the other. Others react to both, partly because both contain a similar muscle protein, tropomyosin. Either way, grouping them as “shellfish” or “seafood” leaves the guest without the information they need.

A few cases worth being clear about:

• A seafood paella with prawns, mussels and squid carries both allergens, and fish too if the stock contains it.
• Sea urchin is neither a mollusc nor a crustacean, so it falls under neither.
• Salt and pepper squid or fritto misto is usually coated in wheat flour, so it carries gluten as well, and anything fried in the same oil may carry traces of molluscs.

A full example: seafood paella

This is the dish that best shows why you have to think about every ingredient, not just the visible ones. A typical seafood paella, made with homemade stock, prawns, mussels and squid, with aioli on the side, can contain:

• Molluscs (14): the mussels and the squid.
• Crustaceans (2): the prawns, and the prawn heads in the stock.
• Fish (4): the bones or heads in the stock.
• Sulphites (12): if the prawns’ label declares them.
• Celery (9): if the stock or the soffritto contains it.
• Egg (3): if the aioli on the side is made with egg.

Do the same exercise with every rice dish, stew and fried dish on the menu before you mark them.

In the US

Molluscs are not one of the FDA’s nine major food allergens: the FDA’s list covers crustacean shellfish (crab, lobster, shrimp), but not oysters, clams, mussels or scallops. A US label still lists them by name in the ingredients, but the “Contains” statement will not. Many American diners say “shellfish allergy” to mean crustaceans, molluscs or both, so always ask which.

How to mark it on your menu

Molluscs are number 14 in Annex II, the last on the list. Mark them on every dish that contains them, including when they are only in the ink, the stock or the sauce. On a seafood menu, staff should be able to explain at a glance which dishes contain crustaceans, which contain molluscs and which contain both.

If you give allergen information verbally, the UK Food Information Regulations 2014 require a notice, menu note or label telling customers they can ask staff for it. In MenuDesign you mark allergen 14 on each dish, choose whether it shows as an icon, number or name, and the allergen matrix comes out of the same data, ready to keep on the floor.