E-numbers, other names and unclear words in AllergenLens

Allergens rarely appear only under their plain names. Milk turns up as whey or casein, eggs as lysozyme, sulfites as E220 to E228. AllergenLens carries a word list of these other names in nine languages, and it is open about the words it isn't sure of. This post explains how that works.

E-numbers and what they are made from

The app reads E-numbers however the label prints them: E322, e 471, or the international INS 1105 style. It also fixes common camera slips, such as a letter O read in place of a zero, before looking the code up.

Each code in the list is one of three kinds:

Some examples from the list:

• Sulfites: E220 to E228 are sulfites, so they count as Contains. Some caramel colours, such as E150b and E150d, can be made with sulfites and show as May contain.
• Eggs: E1105 (lysozyme) is made from eggs.
• Soy or eggs: E322 (lecithin) can come from either.
• Milk: E966 (lactitol) can come from milk.
• Diets: for a diet such as vegan, codes such as E120 (carmine), E441 (gelatin), E901 (beeswax) and E904 (shellac) are flagged, and emulsifiers in the E470s can come from animal sources.

Can come from means the label alone can't tell you the source. Only the maker can, which is why the app says Check with the maker. Our E-number sources guide goes further.

Other names and derived ingredients

The same logic covers ordinary words. An ingredient that is itself an allergen counts as Contains, and the reason tells you why, for example “Milk” is listed in ‘Milk chocolate chips’. An ingredient that may be made with an allergen counts as May contain: “Granola” can contain tree nuts. Check with the maker. For vegans, some words carry can be animal-derived in the same way. How precautionary lines and free-from claims fit in is covered in may contain, contains and free-from.

When a word is Unclear

AllergenLens would rather ask than guess. A word is marked Unclear when:

• It looks like an allergen but isn't quite one. The camera may have misread a letter. The app says We read “…”, which looks like “…”. Check the label.
• It sits outside the ingredient list, for example in a product name or serving tip. The reason says it appears outside the ingredient list.
• It is stressed but unknown. A word printed in capitals inside a mostly lower-case list is often an allergen. If the word list doesn't know it, you see Emphasized word not recognized with the word.
• The Contains line names something not found in the list. The app says it may be under a name the word list doesn't know.

When the misread is obvious, such as m1lk in a crisp photo, the app reads it as milk and says We read “m1lk” as “milk”, so you can see what it assumed. If part of the label couldn't be read, an allergen the app would otherwise rule out is shown as Not confirmed, because part of the label couldn't be read.

In What we read, Contains words are marked in red, May contain in orange, and Unclear words have a dotted underline, so you can find each one on the pack quickly. See highlights on the photo.

The word list version

All of this comes from an allergen word list stored in the app. It has a version number, and only changes with an app update. Under each result you see Checked with allergen word list v2 (or whichever version is current), and when the scan was made with a different version, which one.

In Settings, Allergen word list shows the version and how many terms it holds, with What's new in the word list listing terms added or removed after an update. When you open an older scan, AllergenLens checks it again with the current list and tells you if the result changed. That's covered in word list updates.

FAQ

Download AllergenLens and see what the E-numbers on your next label mean.