I am a child of the 80’s and I still remember getting the Burger King paper crown when my family visited Burger King. But, most of all, I remember my family intentionally going to Burger King to annoy my big sister whose first job was… you guessed it, cashier at Burger King.
I can still see my sister rolling her eyes as my family eagerly entered Burger King to check in on her. Of course – I always plotted to annoy her a little extra with my order.
Awww…nostalgia. Fast Forward to today. I am now a busy mom with Generation Z and Generation Alpha children. My focus at Burger King is no longer on the coveted Burger King paper crown or to annoy my sister, sadly my attention is now the Burger King Food Allergy Menu.
My Generation Z child has food allergies. They say Generation Z focuses on social justice. So let’s take a look at how Burger King’s Allergen Menu holds up in a world where social justice has become sought out.
After all, my food allergic child has been raised by a Registered Dietitian AKA “The Food Allergy Advisor” who also wants those with food allergies to have opportunities to dine safely and confidently at restaurants.
Remember: this post is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here. For further information please see full Disclaimer.
Table of Contents
The Food Allergy Advisor™Ranking System is Based on Four Major Criteria:
- The Top 9 food allergies friendliness – Does the restaurant provide several options accommodating the Top 9 food allergies?
- The overall confidence ranking for food allergy diners
- The completeness of the food allergy menu
- The intuitiveness of the food allergy menu
Each category is ranked on a scale of zero to five stars. Together, these categories are combined to provide a single overall score.
Top 9 Food Allergies Friendliness
To rank high in this category there should be a variety of selections across the Top 9 food allergens (tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, egg, milk, shellfish, fish, and sesame). Variety should be across the menu board, from Flame-Grilled Burgers, Chicken & Fish, Garden Fresh Salads, Breakfast, Sides, and Desserts.
Milk Allergy
Let’s look at the menu options. Just how hard is it to go dairy free at Burger King?
There are a good bit of dairy free burgers to choose from at Burger King if you have a milk allergy. The Whopper Sandwich, Impossible Whopper Sandwich, Double Whopper Sandwich, Whopper Jr. Sandwich, Hamburger, and Double Hamburger are all listed as milk free options.
It wasn’t clear whether some of the sandwiches would be milk free as long as the cheese was omitted from the sandwich.
Several Chicken and Fish options are available with the exception of the Original Chicken Sandwich which contains milk.
No salad options were noted as milk free.
Sadly, there were absolutely no milk free dessert options available.
Burger King dairy free breakfast selections are very limited. Most options contain milk. The Hash Browns and French Toast Sticks are listed as milk free.
Sides and Add Ons were noted as mainly dairy free. You should pass on the buffalo dipping sauce and the ranch dipping sauce with a milk allergy.
The BK Cafe Iced Vanilla Coffee and the BK Cafe Iced Mocha Coffee both contain milk.
Please be sure to read Burger King’s statements about which menu items use a shared fryer. This means that several menu items, while listed as milk free, still have the potential for cross contamination due to the shared fryer.
Egg Allergy
There are a few egg free Flame-Grilled Burger choices at Burger King. They include the Double Quarter Pound King Sandwich, Hamburger, Double Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, Bacon Cheeseburger, and the DoubleBacon Cheeseburger.
The Chicken Nuggets and Chicken Fries are the only egg free options at Burger King for the Chicken & Fish Category.
All of the Garden Fresh Salads are listed as egg free. You should not consume Ken’s Ranch Dressing if you have an egg allergy.
All Dessert options are egg free with the exception of the Chocolate Chip Cookie.
There are very few choices when it comes to Burger King Breakfast Items with an egg allergy. Hash Browns and French Toast Sticks are listed as egg free.
French fries and onion rings are listed as egg free. There are several sauces which need to be restricted if you have an egg allergy.
Be sure to read Burger King’s statements about which menu items use a shared fryer. This means that several menu items, while listed as egg free, still have the potential for cross contamination due to the shared fryer.
Soy Allergy
There are no soy free Flame-Grilled Burger choices at Burger King. The only entrees that are soy free are the Chicken Nuggets and the Chicken Fries.
The Garden Side Salad is a soy free salad option. Be sure not to get the Ken’s Ranch Dressing as it contains soy.
There is a good variety of soy free dessert choices which include the Soft Serve Cone, Soft Serve Cup, Hershey’s Chocolate Sundae, Vanilla Shake, and Hershey’s Chocolate Shake.
You are very limited with Burger King Breakfast items if you have a soy allergy. The only choice is the Hash Browns.
Burger King’s Sides & Add Ons are mainly safe for soy allergy diners with the exception of the Zesty Dipping Sauce.
Burger King has statements about which menu items use a shared fryer. Please be sure to read this. This means that several menu items, while listed as soy free, still have the potential for cross contamination due to the shared fryer.
It is important to mention that Burger King notes that their fryer oil contains corn, canola, soy and/or cottonseed oils.
Wheat Allergy
Burger King is not your best bet if you have a wheat allergy. None of the Flame-Grilled Burgers or the Chicken & Fish are wheat free.
The Garden Side Salad is listed as wheat free.
They do have oatmeal which is listed as wheat free. The oatmeal is listed under the King Jr. Meals. Unfortunately, no other Burger King Breakfast choices are wheat free.
The french fries are listed as wheat free but onion rings DO contain wheat.
There are some wheat free dessert options such as the Soft Serve Cup, Hershey’s Chocolate Sundae, Vanilla Shake, and Hershey’s Chocolate Shake.
Burger King has statements about which menu items use a shared fryer. Please be sure to review this. This means that several menu items, while listed as wheat free, still have the potential for cross contamination due to the shared fryer. An example is the french fries.
Tree Nut Allergy
There were absolutely no Burger King menu items listed that contain tree nuts. So the full menu is at your disposal if you have a tree nut allergy. This is great and very uncommon for all desserts to be tree nut free.
Peanut Allergy
The full BK Menu was listed as peanut free. This includes desserts.
Shellfish Allergy
Shellfish is not mentioned on Burger King’s menu. From The Food Allergy Advisor’s viewpoint it would be ideal to list shellfish as an allergen on the allergen menu, even if none of the menu items contain shellfish. This helps to prevent confusion.
Fish Allergy
Only one BK menu item has fish as an allergy and it is a very obvious one- the Big Fish Sandwich.
Please be sure to read BK’s statements about which menu items use a shared fryer. This means that several menu items, while listed as fish free, still have the potential for cross contamination due to the shared fryer.
Sesame Allergy
With Sesame recently added as one of the top nine allergens in the United States, it would be ideal if sesame was listed on the allergen menu. There is no mention of sesame on Burger King’s Allergen Menu. We know that Burger King is known for their sesame seed bun.
Those with a sesame allergy should be aware that Burger King uses sesame seed buns for many of its sandwiches/burgers.
Burger King’s Food Allergen Menu Confidence Ranking
Let’s review The Food Allergy Advisor™ Ranking System for Confidence.
Is there Ambiguity?
The Food Allergy Advisor feels there is some ambiguity when looking at Burger King’s food allergen menu. This is mainly when it comes to evaluating the menu for milk allergy.
It is unclear as to whether some burgers or sandwiches would be milk free if cheese was omitted from the burger/sandwich.
The Burger King allergy menu omits shellfish from its allergen menu – presumably because there are no shellfish allergens in their menu. The menu, however, does list tree nuts and peanuts even though there are no tree nut or peanut allergens in the menu. This is inconsistent and confusing.
Is there a Mission Statement?
Burger King does not have a mission statement when it comes to Food Allergies. They list their allergen menu under “BK Cares” which alludes to compassion towards their diners with food allergies.
Are there Personal Touches?
I did like that Burger King was very specific about which foods share a fryer. This information was included on their allergen menu. I felt that this information was much more clear than many other restaurants’ blanket cross contamination statements.
Has the Menu Been Updated Within Six Months?
Burger King’s last posted allergen information was July 2021. So no, the information has not been updated within the last six months. Quite some time has passed since then as I write this blog post.
Be very careful not to do a random Google search when trying to access Burger King’s allergen menu. Old menus will show up in the search. ALWAYS go directly to Burger King’s actual website and download the allergen menu from there.
At the time of this review, If you type in “Burger King Allergen Menu” into Goggle the first result is OUTDATED Allergen Information from June 2017!
Are there Clear Cross Contamination Statements
There are very clear cross contamination statements. As noted above, the information about shared fryer menu items is especially helpful.
Burger King’s Completeness Ranking
Below is The Food Allergy Advisor™ ranking for Completeness of Burger King’s allergen menu.
Are All Nine Major Allergens Included?
Burger King does not include all nine of the major allergens: wheat, egg, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, mik, shellfish, fish, and sesame.
Shellfish and sesame are not included on BK’s allergen menu. Sesame is now considered one of the top 9 food allergens in the United States.
Are Full Ingredient Lists Available for Menu Items?
I was unable to find a full ingredient list for each menu item. For example, I could not see what ingredients were in the Whopper.
This makes things more challenging for any food allergen that is not one of the top 9 food allergens.
Is the Nutrition Information Easy to Compare to the Food Allergy Information
You can not compare nutrition information to food allergy information on the same search tab. You must go out of the food allergy menu to find nutrition information.
Is it Easy to Complete an Online Order within the Food Allergy Section of the Menu?
No, these are two separate tabs of the website. The food allergen menu doesn’t link to the ordering section of the website.
Burger Kings Food Allergen Menu Intuitiveness Ranking
Below is The Food Allergy Advisor’s Ranking System for Intuitiveness.
Is the Burger King Menu Easy to Understand?
I think that the menu is very easy to understand. There is a simplicity to it that I can appreciate.
The Burger King Allergen Menu when accessed from laptop or desktop uses a simple table with dots to indicate that the menu item contains an allergen. It would be ideal if they added a key that mentioned that the dot indicates that the allergen is present within the food.
Ease of Mobile Access
This shocked me! The allergen menu is not accessible from Burger King’s mobile site.
I can see the allergen menu on my laptop or desktop from the Burger King website but NOT on my mobile device!
Is it Easy to Find Allergy Information on Burger King’s Website?
On your laptop or desktop you can easily access the Burger King Allergy Menu by either clicking “Download Allergens” or clicking “Allergens View in Browser.” Again, you can not view this information from Burger King’s mobile site.
This is alarming since mobile sites are heavily relied upon by food allergy diners who are out and about trying to navigate their food allergies. Most people will not search an allergen menu before leaving their house.
Easy to Sort
Burger King’s allergen menu is a stagnant PDF. There is no sorting feature.
Is there an Application for Your Phone?
The Burger King app has over 287 thousand users.
Unless I missed something, the app did not include food allergy information. Under the FAQ under “Our Food” there is a question about “How do I find information about food allergens?” When you click to see the answer it gives you a broken link to their allergen menu.
Of note:
The Food Allergy Advisor™ Scoring System is for menus in the United States and review is based on the date/time that the food allergy menu was accessed. The Food Allergy Advisor™ will make best efforts to update restaurant scores periodically.
Always check the food allergen menu of the particular restaurant where you will be dining, do not rely on information on this blog post as food menus may change. Check Burger King’s food allergen menu site for the most updated information.
This post is for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as advice.
Global chain supply issues may affect menu items at restaurants Be sure to read individual statements for all restaurants regarding changes in menus/ingredients and their statements regarding cross contamination.
Ranking a restaurant here and/or including a menu item here does not guarantee that the particular restaurant/menu item is safe for your individual needs.
This Website Does Not Provide Medical Advice
The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.
Final Thoughts
Overall, The Food Allergy Advisor feels improvements can be made to Burger King’s Allergen Menu. Ideally, some additional menu items could be added especially for the soy or wheat allergic diner. There were several burger choices for those going dairy free.
Burger King does not have tree nuts or peanuts on their entire menu which is great!
Confidence Ranking would be improved if Burger King updated their allergen menu more frequently.
Completeness could be improved by adding a full nutrition ingredient list and also adding shellfish and sesame to the allergen menu. Overall, most of the top nine allergens were clearly identified on the food allergen menu.
Intuitiveness needs to be improved so that the allergen menu is accessible on the mobile site and app.
Burger King does some things well, like having a simplistic table format for the allergen menu. They also do a great job of identifying which menu items use a shared fryer.
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Last Updated on July 21, 2022 by Amber DeVore, RD, CSSD, CLT