Flour: allergens and what’s inside

Which allergens are in flour?

Of 2,729 packs of flour whose ingredient list Open Food Facts reads in full, 60% list gluten, 10% list tree nuts, 2% list soy and 1% list milk. Another 15% carry a “may contain” line for soy, 10% for sesame and 5% for gluten. 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 gluten guide

What is flour usually made of?

The ingredients most packs of flour list, with the share of packs that list each: wheat flour (39%).

• Wheat flour39%

Packs in Open Food Facts, by country of sale: France 3,453 · Germany 1,107 · Italy 936 · Spain 677.

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 flour.

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 is flour?

In the Open Food Facts categories, flour is one of the plant-based foods.

What else is flour called?

French

Farines, Farines végétales

German

Mehle, Mehl

Spanish

Harinas de origen vegetal, Harinas vegetales

Italian

Farine, Farina

Dutch

Melen

Portuguese

Farinha

Polish

Mąki, Mąka

Danish

Mel

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.

1. Open Food Facts: product database, 4,535,553 products, read 13 October 2026, ODbL
2. Open Food Facts: categories and ingredients taxonomies (names, kinds, allergens), ODbL
3. Open Food Facts: Flour

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