The 14 major allergens (as defined by international food safety standards) must be considered whenever a recipe is enhanced or modified. If the AI suggests adding fish sauce to a dish, that introduces a fish allergen. If it suggests finishing with butter, that introduces dairy. If it suggests soy sauce, that introduces soy and potentially wheat (gluten). Provenance's enhancement engine must be aware that adding ingredients — even common professional-standard additions — can introduce allergens that weren't in the original recipe. The original recipe is the user's baseline of known allergens; any enhancement that introduces new ingredients must be flagged.
The 14 major allergens: celery, cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats), crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk (dairy), molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphites. Common professional additions that introduce allergens: butter and cream (dairy), fish sauce (fish), soy sauce (soy, wheat), Worcestershire sauce (fish, gluten), many curry pastes (shellfish — shrimp paste), nut oils, sesame oil, mustard-based dressings. Nut cross-contamination: recipes processed in environments where nuts are present may contain traces.
When enhancing recipes, any NEW ingredient the AI adds should be clearly visible in the enhanced step — not buried in technique language. If the original recipe was dairy-free and the enhancement suggests mounting with butter, that's an allergen introduction that needs to be transparent. For professional kitchens: maintain an allergen matrix for your menu, update it every time a recipe changes, and train every team member to take allergen queries seriously. Gluten-free soy sauce (tamari) and coconut aminos are the standard substitutions for soy sauce allergen concerns.
Assuming 'a little bit' of an allergen is safe — for people with severe allergies, trace amounts can be lethal. Not recognising hidden allergens: fish sauce in Thai food, shrimp paste in Malaysian and Indonesian food, wheat in soy sauce, egg wash on pastry. Substituting ingredients without considering allergens — using almond milk for dairy introduces tree nut. Not asking about allergies before cooking for others. Confusing intolerance with allergy — lactose intolerance is uncomfortable; milk allergy can be fatal.