Allergens

EU regulations require labeling 14 allergens on food product labels. In an online store, allergen information must be visible before purchase. Polski for WooCommerce handles allergens through a WordPress taxonomy.

14 main allergens

According to Annex II of the FIC Regulation, mandatory declaration covers:

No	Allergen	Taxonomy slug	Icon
1	Cereals containing gluten	`gluten`	gluten
2	Crustaceans	`crustaceans`	crustaceans
3	Eggs	`eggs`	eggs
4	Fish	`fish`	fish
5	Peanuts	`peanuts`	peanuts
6	Soybeans	`soy`	soy
7	Milk (lactose)	`milk`	milk
8	Nuts	`nuts`	nuts
9	Celery	`celery`	celery
10	Mustard	`mustard`	mustard
11	Sesame seeds	`sesame`	sesame
12	Sulphur dioxide and sulphites	`sulphites`	sulphites
13	Lupin	`lupin`	lupin
14	Molluscs	`molluscs`	molluscs

The polski_allergen taxonomy

The plugin registers the polski_allergen taxonomy associated with the product post type. During plugin activation, the taxonomy is automatically populated with the 14 main allergens.

Managing allergens

Go to Products > Allergens to manage the allergen list. The default 14 allergens are created automatically. You can add custom allergens specific to your product range.

Each allergen contains:

Field	Description
Name	Displayed allergen name (e.g. “Milk and dairy products”)
Slug	URL identifier (e.g. `milk`)
Description	Additional information about the allergen
Icon	Optional icon (taxonomy thumbnail)

Assigning allergens to a product

In the product editor, in the “Food” tab or in the “Allergens” side panel, check the appropriate allergens from the checkbox list.

Three declaration modes are available:

Mode	Description	Example
Contains	Product contains the allergen	“Contains: milk, eggs”
May contain	Cross-contamination risk	“May contain: nuts”
Does not contain	Explicit absence declaration (optional)	“Does not contain: gluten”

“May contain” mode

The “May contain” mode is used to indicate the risk of trace amounts of an allergen resulting from production processes. In the product editor, each allergen can be marked as:

Contains - allergen is a product ingredient
May contain - risk of trace amounts

Configuration

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Polski > Food and configure the “Allergens” section.

Setting	Default	Description
Enable allergen declaration	Yes	Activates the allergen system
Highlight in ingredients	Yes	Automatic bolding of allergens in the ingredients list
Show icons	No	Display allergen icons
Position on page	Food tab	Where to display allergens
“May contain” mode	Yes	Enables the trace amounts declaration option
Display format	List	`list`, `icons`, `inline`

Automatic highlighting in ingredients

According to Article 21 of the FIC Regulation, allergens in the ingredients list must be highlighted - usually by bolding or using capital letters. The plugin automatically searches for allergen names in the “Ingredients” field and wraps them in a <strong> tag.

Example:

Input text:

Wheat flour, sugar, butter, chicken eggs, skimmed milk powder, salt

Displayed text:

Wheat flour (gluten), sugar, butter (milk), chicken eggs, skimmed milk powder, salt

With HTML highlighting:

<strong>Wheat</strong> flour (<strong>gluten</strong>), sugar, butter (<strong>milk</strong>),
<strong>eggs</strong>, <strong>milk</strong> powder, salt

Highlighting configuration

The plugin searches the ingredients list for allergen synonyms. The synonym list is configurable:

add_filter('polski/allergens/synonyms', function (array $synonyms): array {
    $synonyms['gluten'] = ['pszenica', 'pszenna', 'żyto', 'żytnia', 'owies', 'owsiana', 'jęczmień', 'orkisz'];
    $synonyms['milk'] = ['mleko', 'mleczny', 'mleczna', 'masło', 'śmietana', 'jogurt', 'ser', 'laktoza'];
    $synonyms['eggs'] = ['jaja', 'jajka', 'jajeczny', 'jajeczna'];

    return $synonyms;
});

Shortcode

Use the shortcode [polski_allergens] to display the allergen declaration.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`product_id`	int	current	Product ID
`format`	string	`list`	Format: `list`, `icons`, `inline`, `table`
`show_may_contain`	bool	`true`	Whether to display the “May contain” section
`show_icons`	bool	`false`	Whether to display allergen icons
`label`	string	`"Allergens: "`	Label before the list
`wrapper`	string	`div`	Wrapping HTML element

Usage examples

Basic allergen list:

[polski_allergens]

Result:

Allergens: milk, eggs, gluten
May contain: nuts

Inline format with icons:

[polski_allergens format="inline" show_icons="true"]

Without “May contain” section:

[polski_allergens show_may_contain="false"]

Table format:

[polski_allergens format="table"]

For a specific product:

[polski_allergens product_id="456"]

In a PHP template:

echo do_shortcode('[polski_allergens product_id="' . $product->get_id() . '"]');

Programmatic access

Getting product allergens

// "Contains" allergens
$allergens = wp_get_object_terms($product_id, 'polski_allergen');

foreach ($allergens as $allergen) {
    echo $allergen->name; // e.g. "Milk and dairy products"
}

// "May contain" allergens
$may_contain = get_post_meta($product_id, '_polski_may_contain_allergens', true);
if ($may_contain) {
    $may_contain_terms = get_terms([
        'taxonomy' => 'polski_allergen',
        'slug'     => $may_contain,
    ]);
}

Assigning allergens programmatically

// Setting "Contains" allergens
wp_set_object_terms($product_id, ['gluten', 'milk', 'eggs'], 'polski_allergen');

// Setting "May contain" allergens
update_post_meta($product_id, '_polski_may_contain_allergens', ['nuts', 'soy']);

Checking if a product contains an allergen

if (has_term('gluten', 'polski_allergen', $product_id)) {
    // Product contains gluten
}

CSV import

Allergens can be imported via CSV:

CSV column	Description	Format
`polski_allergens`	“Contains” allergens	Slugs separated by commas
`polski_may_contain`	“May contain” allergens	Slugs separated by commas