Mustard on the menu: where it appears and how to label it

What it covers

Point 10 of Annex II of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, still in force in the UK, covers “Mustard and products thereof”. No exceptions. That means prepared mustard in all its forms (English, Dijon, wholegrain, American yellow, honey mustard), but also whole or ground seeds, mustard flour and powder, and mustard oil.

In British kitchens mustard is often on the table, so staff remember it as a condiment. What they forget is mustard as a minor ingredient in sauces and dressings that are made once and then used in many dishes.

Where it appears

Dressings and vinaigrettes

• The house vinaigrette, which many kitchens emulsify with a spoonful of mustard.
• Honey mustard dressing and bottled salad dressings.

Mayonnaise and cold sauces

• Homemade mayonnaise with mustard, and many commercial mayonnaises.
• Tartare sauce, Caesar dressing and coleslaw, depending on the recipe.
• Celeriac remoulade, which also carries celery.
• The “house sauce” in burger bars, which often contains mustard.

Meat and cheese dishes

• Pork or chicken in a mustard cream sauce, and peppercorn sauces that include it.
• Steak tartare, which usually contains Dijon.
• Honey and mustard glazed ham, ribs, wings and chicken; many barbecue sauces.
• Marinades, rubs and glazes, homemade or bought.
• Welsh rarebit, cauliflower cheese and mac and cheese, often seasoned with mustard powder.

Fast food and sandwiches

• Hot dogs, burgers, club sandwiches, wraps, ham sandwiches and pretzels.
• Sausages served with mustard, and the piccalilli on a ploughman’s.

Spices and world cuisines

• Curry powders and pastes.
• Mustard seeds in Indian dishes such as dal and tadka, and in many chutneys and pickles.
• Piccalilli and pickles made with mustard seed.

Bought-in products

• Ready-made sauces, meat seasonings, and some sausages and cooked meats.

How to find it on labels

In the UK and EU, mustard cannot hide on a label behind a general term like “spices” or “seasoning”: if a compound ingredient contains it, the ingredients list has to name it and emphasise it. You will see it as “mustard”, “mustard seed”, “mustard flour” or inside brackets, for example “spices (mustard, pepper, turmeric)”.

What does happen is that mustard turns up where you are not looking: in a meat seasoning, a barbecue sauce or a curry paste. The FSA’s allergen guidance for food businesses explains how allergens must be shown; use that obligation and read the whole list.

Cross-contamination

Mustard is a sauce and travels round the kitchen like one:

• Squeeze bottles and dispensers on the pass or the bar.
• Spoons and glazing brushes that go from one meat to another.
• The vinaigrette bowl, used afterwards to dress another salad.
• The grill, after browning marinated meat.
• Self-service sauce stations in burger bars and pubs.

If you cannot separate these processes, mark traces of mustard on the affected dishes.

Mustard and sulphites

Many Dijon-style mustards contain sulphites as a preservative, and the label emphasises them. When you use one in a vinaigrette, a sauce or a tartare, check whether the dish also needs the sulphites mark. It is a classic “second-hand” allergen: you do not add it, it comes inside another product.

Your house dressing under the microscope

Most slip-ups with mustard come from preparations made in bulk and used for days. Check these:

1. Vinaigrette: does it use mustard to emulsify?
2. Mayonnaise and its derivatives: do you make it with mustard, or buy it with mustard in?
3. Burger sauce: what exactly is in the one you use?
4. Meat marinades and rubs: do they include mustard or curry powder?

Write the answer on the record for each preparation and copy the allergen to every dish that uses it, including the side salads. It is the same system we explain for celery, which hides in stocks.

In the US

Mustard is not one of the FDA’s nine major food allergens, so US labels do not flag it in a “Contains” statement. Mustard flour also counts as a spice under FDA rules, and spices can be declared simply as “spices”. If you buy US-made rubs, sauces or seasonings, ask the supplier.

How to mark it on your menu

Mustard is number 10 in Annex II. Mark it on every dish with a sauce, dressing or marinade that contains it, and on the side salads too. Front-of-house staff need to be able to say whether a dish can be served without the sauce and whether, even then, the mustard stays in the marinade.

On the menu you build with MenuDesign, mustard appears as its icon, the number 10 or its name, depending on the format you choose for the whole document. To compare the three formats before deciding, see the guide to adding allergens to your menu.