The FDA has officially confirmed coconut is no longer considered a tree nut on their list of allergens. January 2025, 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.
As a company, we recognize this shift may raise questions and we will release an official statement next week outlining what this means and how we are addressing it within our business divisions of nutrition, training and certification.
“This was such a big issue as countless industry professionals, myself included, have tried to get coconut off the list of tree nuts for more than a decade. Its great to see movement on this concern as coconut is in fact, not a tree nut,” said Betsy Craig, CEO of MenuTrinfo.
The full FDA breakdown of the recent changes can be found in their Final Guidance for Industry: Questions and Answers Regarding Food Allergens, Including the Food Allergen Labeling Requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Edition 5).
