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It’s official: Coconut no longer a tree nut

The FDA has officially confirmed coconut is no longer considered a tree nut on their list of allergens. On Jan. 6 the FDA released new guidance that outlines changes to its classification of tree nuts, among other items. Most notably, coconut has been taken off the list of tree nuts along with beech, butternut, chestnut, chinquapin, cola/kola, ginkgo, hickory, palm, pili, and shea. 

Now included in the list of tree nuts are:

  • almond
  • black walnut
  • Brazil nut
  • California walnut
  • cashew
  • filbert/hazelnut
  • heartnut/Japanese walnut
  • macadamia nut/Bush nut
  • pecan
  • pine nut/pinon nut
  • pistachio
  • English and Persian walnut

In addition to the tree nut changes, the FDA has made a few other updates to existing allergens. Eggs now include additional varieties such as duck, geese and quail while milk varieties have been expanded to encompass sheep and goat.

We recognize this shift may raise questions, especially for those with coconut and other tree nut allergies.

“This change, removing coconut from the tree nut list, moves coconut to one of the 10 percent of foods someone with allergies could be allergic to.  This means coconut is no longer being called out as a top allergen in the U.S. allergen labeling requirements,” said Betsy Craig, CEO of MenuTrinfo, the parent company of Certified Free From.

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