Celery Allergy Food Scanner — Stalk, Root, Seed, Celery Salt
Celery is a top-14 EU mandatory disclosure allergen under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, but it is not part of the FDA top-9. The EU rule covers every part of the plant: stalk, celeriac root, celery seed, and celery salt. They all share the same allergenic proteins (Api g 1 profilin and Api g 2 LTP), and a child allergic to celery stalk will react to celery seed and to the celery salt in a spice mix. The exposure pattern is mostly European — celery is the third ingredient (after salt and onion) in most European bouillon cubes and the seasoning backbone of German, Polish, and Italian sausages — but US families encounter it routinely in Worcestershire sauce, Bloody Mary mix, Old Bay seasoning, and herbes de Provence. SafePantry checks every barcode against the world's largest open food database, flags 'may contain celery' warnings other apps quietly skip, and gives you a safe / caution / unsafe verdict in two seconds. Free, no ads, no tracking.
Celery allergy is the EU allergen US families most often discover by accident, usually when a child reacts to a soup, bouillon, or sausage and the parents start reading European-style labels. The European Union added celery to its mandatory-disclosure list because celery is genuinely ubiquitous in European processed food: it is the third ingredient (after salt and onion) in most European bouillon cubes (Knorr, OXO, Maggi, Kallo), it is a structural ingredient in German, Polish, and Italian sausage seasoning blends, it is in nearly every commercial soup base and stock concentrate, and it is in many ready-meal sauces. The EU regulation (EU 1169/2011) requires disclosure of all parts of the plant: stalk (Apium graveolens var. dulce), celeriac root (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum), celery seed, and celery salt.
The biological reason all four forms share the same allergen is straightforward. Celery's primary allergenic proteins are Api g 1 (a profilin in the Bet v 1 homologue family — same family as the major birch pollen allergen) and Api g 2 (a lipid transfer protein). Both are present in the stalk, the root, and the seed, and both survive grinding, drying, and pickling. Celery salt — a 1:1 blend of dried ground celery seed and table salt — concentrates the allergen rather than dilutes it. From an avoidance standpoint, the entire plant is one allergen.
The Bet v 1 homology matters clinically because it produces a common pattern: celery allergy is frequently linked to birch-pollen allergy via oral allergy syndrome (pollen-food syndrome). A birch-pollen-sensitized child may tolerate cooked celery (the allergenic protein is heat-labile in this pathway) but react to raw celery stalks at the produce aisle or in a salad. The opposite pattern also exists — some celery-allergic children react worse to cooked celery in stocks and stews because the LTP allergen (Api g 2) is heat-stable. Your allergist will characterize which pattern applies to your child; for SafePantry's purposes, the verdict is the same — flag celery regardless of form.
The big US-EU labeling difference: most US-made stock cubes and bouillon powders (Better Than Bouillon, Swanson, College Inn) do declare celery in their ingredient lists, but the disclosure is usually buried in a long ingredient string rather than highlighted. European bouillon cubes — even when imported to the US — usually highlight celery in bold per EU rules and stamp the front of the package with 'with celery'. The hardest cases are restaurant soups and packaged ready-meal sauces, where the celery content is real but the label is variable.
And if you have more than one child with different allergies — say a celery-allergic toddler and a peanut-allergic preschooler — you're checking labels for stocks, sausages, and seasonings every week. Most scanner apps check one allergen at a time. That's not how families work.
How SafePantry handles it
SafePantry uses Open Food Facts — the world's largest open food database, with over 3 million products and growing — as its source of truth. Every product is tagged with a canonical allergen taxonomy. Celery maps to en:celery, and SafePantry matches on the tag regardless of which part of the plant or which preparation the product uses. Celery stalk, celery root (celeriac), celeriac purée, celery seed, celery salt, celery powder, celery extract, and 'natural celery flavor' all collapse to the same canonical allergen.
When you scan, SafePantry checks three things in parallel: (1) is celery in the declared ingredient list, (2) is celery listed in any precautionary statement on the label, and (3) does the manufacturer have a known history of celery use in this product category. The verdict — green, yellow, red — reflects the strictest finding. Because celery is most common in soups, stocks, sausages, and seasoning blends, SafePantry's underlying logic gives those categories extra scrutiny — the precautionary-statement coverage is where the residual cross-contact risk shows up.
Every family member has their own profile. You can have one kid with celery, another with celery plus mustard plus sulfites (the EU-allergen trio that often appears together in charcuterie and bouillons), a grandparent with shellfish. The verdict screen shows the per-kid breakdown so you can see at a glance who in your family can eat this and who can't. When Open Food Facts doesn't have the product (about 1 in 5 in the US right now, lower in the EU where Open Food Facts originated), SafePantry falls back to label-capture — point the camera at the ingredient list and the same allergen engine parses it on-device.
None of this data leaves your phone. There's no account. There are no ads. There is no third-party analytics that can sell your child's allergy profile to an advertiser.
Hidden sources of celery
These products contain celery more often than parents expect — always check the label.
Stock cubes and bouillon (European brands)
Celery is the third ingredient (after salt and onion) in most European bouillon cubes — Knorr, OXO, Maggi, Kallo all use celery as a structural seasoning. Even the 'vegetable' and 'chicken' SKUs contain celery.
US bouillon (Better Than Bouillon, Swanson, College Inn)
Most US stock concentrates and bouillon pastes contain celery extract or dried celery — the disclosure is usually buried in a long ingredient string rather than highlighted on the front of the package.
Soup mixes and dehydrated soup bases
Commercial dry soup mixes, ramen-style flavor packets, and packet onion-soup mixes use celery powder or dried celery as a routine seasoning.
Frozen ready meals and pot pies
European-style ready meals and frozen pot pies frequently include celery in the gravy or sauce base. Often disclosed only in fine print.
European sausages (German, Polish, Italian)
Bratwurst, kiełbasa, mortadella, and most cured European sausages use celery seed and/or celery salt in their seasoning blends. Many also contain mustard and sulfites — the EU-allergen trio.
Worcestershire sauce
Lea & Perrins and most Worcestershire sauces contain celery seed (or 'celery extract') as a flavor backbone, in addition to anchovy. Often disclosed as 'natural flavors' on US labels.
Old Bay seasoning
Celery salt is the defining flavor component of Old Bay (used on crab boils, fries, and seafood). Disclosed on the ingredient panel but easy to miss.
Herbes de Provence and Italian seasoning blends
Many commercial herbes de Provence and 'Italian seasoning' blends include celery seed or celery powder. Most poultry seasonings also contain celery.
Bloody Mary mix and savory cocktail mixes
Most Bloody Mary mixes include celery juice, celery salt, or celery seed. Many include all three. The fresh celery stalk garnish is the same allergen.
Prepared salads (tuna, chicken, egg, potato)
Most deli-style prepared salads include chopped celery stalk as the standard crunch component. The ingredient list usually discloses it, but kids often eat from a parent's plate without checking.
Ranch and 'cream of' dressings
Some ranch dressings and cream-of-celery dressings include celery seed for flavor. Cream-of-celery soup is the obvious case but the flavor extends into related products.
Stuffing mixes (Stove Top, Pepperidge Farm)
Most commercial stuffing mixes use celery seed and dried celery as structural seasonings. Thanksgiving stuffing is a routine accidental exposure.
V8 and vegetable juices
V8 and most vegetable-juice blends include celery juice as one of the eight (or more) vegetables. Disclosed on the label but easy to forget in the family fridge.
Brands frequently safe for celery-allergic families
This list reflects manufacturer policies and Open Food Facts data at the time of writing. Always read the current label — formulations and facility policies change.
Brand
Notes
Enjoy Life Foods
Free of the top-14 allergens including celery; consistent across the snack and bar lineup.
MadeGood
Top-14-allergen-free granola bars and crackers; school-safe certification explicitly covers celery.
Partake Foods
Top-9-allergen-free crackers and cookies that voluntarily exclude celery as well; rigorous third-party audits.
Edward & Sons (Bouillon Cubes — 'Not Chick'n' SKU)
A small line of vegetable bouillon cubes that explicitly exclude celery; verify the specific SKU since the brand also makes celery-containing flavors.
Massel (Australian-imported bouillon)
Several Massel bouillon SKUs are explicitly celery-free; widely available in US natural-foods stores. Read the specific cube — the brand carries both celery and celery-free lines.
Imagine Foods (Organic Broths — most SKUs)
Several Imagine organic broths are celery-free; some include celery. Check the specific carton.
FreeYumm
Top-9-allergen-free bars and cookies; reliably celery-free given the broader allergen-free pledge.
YumEarth
Top-9-allergen-free fruit candies and lollipops; celery-free.
Plain Frank's RedHot (original)
A useful Worcestershire-sauce substitute for celery-allergic families wanting that umami kick; check that it's the original SKU, not a flavor variant.
Coconut Aminos (most brands)
A useful Worcestershire-sauce substitute; check the ingredient list to confirm no celery seed has been added.
Frequently asked questions
Is celery seed a different allergen than celery stalk?
No. Celery seed, celery stalk, celeriac root, celery salt, celery powder, and celery extract all share the same allergenic proteins — primarily Api g 1 (a profilin) and Api g 2 (a lipid transfer protein, or LTP). Both proteins are present throughout the plant and survive grinding, drying, and pickling. A child allergic to celery stalk will react to celery seed and to the celery salt in Old Bay; from an avoidance standpoint, the entire plant is one allergen. The EU labeling rule (Regulation 1169/2011) reflects this by requiring disclosure of all parts of the plant under the single 'celery' allergen heading. SafePantry's Open Food Facts source uses one canonical en:celery tag for all forms, so the verdict is consistent whether the product contains celery stalk, seed, root, or salt.
What is celeriac?
Celeriac (also called celery root) is Apium graveolens var. rapaceum — a cultivar of the same plant species as the familiar celery stalk, bred for an enlarged edible root rather than a tall edible stalk. It looks like a knobbly beige softball-sized root vegetable and tastes mildly of celery, parsley, and parsnip. In European cooking it appears in remoulade (a French appetizer of julienned raw celeriac in mustard mayonnaise), in soups and purées, and as a roasted side dish. It is a routine ingredient in French and German bistro menus. Celeriac is the same allergen as celery stalk — same Api g 1 and Api g 2 proteins. If your child reacts to celery, treat celeriac as celery.
Is celery salt the same as celery?
Functionally yes. Celery salt is a 1:1 blend of ground celery seed and table salt. The salt does not change the allergen profile of the celery seed; it just dilutes it by half. Old Bay seasoning, Cajun seasoning mixes, many Bloody Mary mixes, deviled-egg seasonings, and several popcorn seasoning blends use celery salt as their defining ingredient. A child allergic to celery will react to celery salt. The disclosure rules treat celery salt as celery in both the EU and US labeling regimes.
Why is celery so common in European stocks but not in American ones?
Cultural preference, mostly. The French mirepoix, Italian soffritto, and German Suppengrün — the foundational aromatic vegetable base of European soups, stews, and sauces — all include celery alongside onion and carrot. European industrial bouillon manufacturers built their flavor profiles around the same trio of vegetables and the resulting products taste authentic to European consumers. American culinary tradition leans more on the holy trinity of onion-bell-pepper-celery (the Louisiana French Creole base) and on the milder onion-and-carrot base of mainstream American cooking, so US-style bouillon often uses less celery. Both bouillon styles contain celery, but the European version usually contains more, and the labeling tradition is to highlight it (because the EU rule requires disclosure) rather than bury it. For a celery-allergic family, the practical implication is to scan European-style bouillons especially carefully — and to treat 'natural flavors' on a US label as potentially celery-containing until verified.
How do I handle restaurant soups?
Carefully. Restaurant soups are one of the highest-risk categories for celery-allergic children because almost every commercial stock concentrate and bouillon base contains celery, and most restaurant soups are built on a commercial base rather than house-made stock. The right habit is to ask the manager (not just the server) whether the soup of the day uses a commercial bouillon or a house-made stock, and whether the chef can confirm a celery-free preparation specifically. Many chefs will accommodate by using a different base, but the kitchen needs to know to check. SafePantry can scan a packaged retail product but cannot tell you what a restaurant kitchen has in the soup pot.
Does SafePantry catch 'may contain celery' warnings?
Yes. SafePantry flags any precautionary allergen statement — 'may contain celery', 'processed on shared equipment with celery', 'made in a facility that processes celery' — as a caution-level verdict (yellow). Many competing apps only check the intentional ingredient list and silently miss these. For celery specifically, the precautionary statements on European-style bouillons, sausages, and seasoning blends are where the residual cross-contact risk shows up. Ignoring them isn't a feature trade-off, it's a safety gap.
Is SafePantry free?
Yes. Core scanning, multi-kid profiles, and the verdict engine are free forever. An optional Family Pro upgrade (annual subscription or one-time lifetime) unlocks restaurant-menu scanning, recipe scanning, pantry inventory, and reaction-journal PDF export, but you never need it to check whether a product is safe.
Does scanning send my data anywhere?
Scanning sends only the barcode to Open Food Facts to look up the product. Your child's allergen profile, scan history, and family information stay on your phone. There is no account, no advertising SDK, and no third-party analytics that could profile your family. The privacy details are on our privacy page.