Free bilingual reference
The 14 allergens in English and Maltese
One table your kitchen can actually use: the fourteen substances Annex II of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 makes declarable, the Maltese wording alongside the English, and the local dish where each one tends to hide. Print it, pin it by the pass, share it with staff.
| # | English | Malti | Where it hides in a Maltese kitchen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cereals containing gluten | Ċereali li fihom il-glutina | Ftira, hobz tal-Malti, pastizzi, ravjul, bragioli coating, thickened stews |
| 2 | Crustaceans | Krustaċji | Prawn spaghetti, lobster, shrimp in fish soup |
| 3 | Eggs | Bajd | Aljotta thickening, mayonnaise, imqaret glaze, pasta dough |
| 4 | Fish | Huta | Lampuki pie, anchovy in bigilla and salads, Worcestershire sauce |
| 5 | Peanuts | Karawett | Asian-style sauces, some biscuits and nougat |
| 6 | Soybeans | Fażola tas-sojja | Soy sauce, marinades, some breads and burger mixes |
| 7 | Milk | Halib | Gbejniet, ricotta in pastizzi, butter finishes, gelato |
| 8 | Tree nuts | Ġewż | Qubbajt, kwarezimal, pesto, Sicilian-style desserts |
| 9 | Celery | Krafes | Soffritto, minestra, stock cubes, ross fil-forn |
| 10 | Mustard | Mustarda | Dressings, rabbit marinades, pickles, burger sauces |
| 11 | Sesame | Ġunġlien | Burger buns, hummus, tahina, some ftira toppings |
| 12 | Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (above 10 mg/kg) | Diossidu tal-kubrit u sulfiti (aktar minn 10 mg/kg) | Wine used in stews, dried fruit, vinegar, some potato products |
| 13 | Lupin | Lupina | Gluten-free flour blends, some artisan breads |
| 14 | Molluscs | Molluski | Octopus stew, squid, mussels, clams, snails |
The binding wording is in the Maltese-language text of the regulation on EUR-Lex. Products derived from a listed substance are covered too, which is why fish sauce, barley malt and whey all inherit the parent declaration.
Using it in service
A table on the wall is step one, not the record
Tag per dish, not per menu
The guest needs to know which of the fourteen sit in the plate in front of them. A menu-wide list does not answer that.
Keep one source of truth
When the kitchen swaps the stock or the bread supplier, the tags change in one place and every language follows.
Thirty languages, same data
Qarta publishes the same allergen flags in English, Maltese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Greek, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
Questions
Bilingual allergen questions
- Do I have to publish allergens in Maltese as well as English?
- Mandatory food information must be in a language easily understood by consumers in the country where the food is sold. Both English and Maltese are official languages in Malta, so publishing both is the safe route, and it also helps Maltese-speaking older guests who read the Maltese column first.
- Are these Maltese terms the legal wording?
- They are the standard Maltese renderings of the Annex II categories used in local practice. The legally binding text is the Maltese-language version of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 published on EUR-Lex, which you can cite directly if an inspector asks.
- Does gluten mean the same as wheat?
- No. The category covers wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut and their hybridised strains. A dish can be wheat-free and still carry the gluten declaration because of barley malt or oats.
- Do sulphites always need declaring?
- Only when present above 10 mg per kg or litre in the food as sold. In a restaurant that threshold is easily crossed by wine reductions and some dried or preserved ingredients, so assume it applies unless you have a supplier figure that says otherwise.
- Can I reuse this table on my own website?
- Yes. Copy it, credit qarta.online with a link back, and adjust the 'where it hides' column to your own recipes. It is meant to be a genuinely useful reference for Maltese kitchens, not gated content.
Every dish, every allergen, thirty languages
EUR 39.90 per month plus EUR 149 setup with printed QR stickers and staff training.