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Food and dish guide

Meat balls: allergens and what’s inside

Of 322 packs of meat balls whose ingredients Open Food Facts reads in full, 52% list gluten and 25% list soy. Another 14% carry a “may contain” line for milk. Most list salt, water and onion.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 3 sourcesHow we check

Not for you

for a gluten-free profile, on 52% of these packs

Which allergens are in meat balls?

Of 322 packs of meat balls whose ingredient list Open Food Facts reads in full, 52% list gluten, 25% list soy, 22% list egg and 20% list milk. Another 14% carry a “may contain” line for milk, 11% for celery and 11% for soy. Recipes differ from pack to pack, so the label in your hand is the one that counts.

Coeliac or gluten-freeNot for you52% list gluten; 4% more carry a “may contain” line for it.
Soy allergyHeads up25% list soy; 11% more carry a “may contain” line for it.
Egg allergyHeads up22% list egg; 5% more carry a “may contain” line for it.
Milk allergyHeads up20% list milk; 14% more carry a “may contain” line for it.
Mustard allergyHeads up11% list mustard; 8% more carry a “may contain” line for it.
Celery allergyHeads up5% list celery; 11% more carry a “may contain” line for it.

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 · Read the soy guide · Read the eggs guide

What are meat balls usually made of?

The ingredients most packs of meat balls list, with the share of packs that list each: salt (97%), water (77%), onion (66%) and beef (52%).

Packs in Open Food Facts, by country of sale: France 204 · Germany 63 · United Kingdom 48 · Bulgaria 45.

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 meat balls.

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 meat balls?

In the Open Food Facts categories, meat balls are one of the meat preparations.

Kinds of meat ballsBeef meat ballsPork meat balls

What else are meat balls called?

French
Boulettes de viande
German
Fleischbällchen
Dutch
Gehaktballen
Portuguese
Almôndegas

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.

  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: Meat balls

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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