Food and dish guide
Cold starters: allergens and what’s inside
Of 254 packs of cold starters whose ingredients Open Food Facts reads in full, 40% list mustard and 37% list egg. Another 32% carry a “may contain” line for celery. Most list salt, water and carrot.
By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 3 sourcesHow we check
Not for you
for a mustard allergy profile, on 40% of these packs
Which allergens are in cold starters?
Of 254 packs of cold starters whose ingredient list Open Food Facts reads in full, 40% list mustard, 37% list egg, 25% list gluten and 22% list milk. Another 32% carry a “may contain” line for celery, 27% for crustaceans and 25% for tree nuts. Recipes differ from pack to pack, so the label in your hand is the one that counts.
Not for you when most of these packs list the allergen, Heads up when fewer do or only a “may contain” line names it. In the app, a profile gets Not for you on a pack that lists the allergen and Heads up on one whose “may contain” line names it: it reads the pack in your hand, not these counts.
Read the mustard guide · Read the eggs guide · Read the gluten guide
What are cold starters usually made of?
The ingredients most packs of cold starters list, with the share of packs that list each: salt (96%), water (91%), carrot (62%) and colza oil (48%).
Packs in Open Food Facts, by country of sale: France 440 · Spain 66 · Belgium 25 · Germany 14.
Counted on 13 October 2026 from the Open Food Facts product database, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows what these packs list, not every recipe for cold starters.
Calories and nutrients
Not shown here. Open Food Facts records calories and nutrients per 100 g or per 100 ml without saying which, so a figure for all these packs together could mislead. The pack you buy prints its own, and that is the figure to log.
What kind of food are cold starters?
In the Open Food Facts categories, cold starters are one of the appetizers.
What else are cold starters called?
- French
- Entrées froides
- German
- Kalte Vorspeisen
- Spanish
- Entrantes fríos
- Italian
- Antipasti freddi
- Dutch
- Koude voorgerechten
Bravoora reads every pack for everyone you shop for: an allergy or intolerance, a vegan or vegetarian diet, a calorie or protein goal, and the labels on supplements and skincare too. Build a profile · For dietitians, doctors and trainers
Sources
Every share is counted over the packs whose ingredient list Open Food Facts reads in full. A pack lists an allergen when Open Food Facts’ allergen field names it, or when one of its ingredients stands for it by the same two-of-three checks as the ingredient dictionary (tahini is sesame, a cheese is milk). A “may contain” line counts only for an allergen the pack does not list.
- Open Food Facts: product database, 4,535,553 products, read 13 October 2026, ODbL
- Open Food Facts: categories and ingredients taxonomies (names, kinds, allergens), ODbL
- Open Food Facts: Cold starters
Contains information from Open Food Facts, which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Read the licence · Download this guide’s data · How we check
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