Just got back from a European vacation. Noticed that each restaurant had an extensive allergen list on the menu. Around 15 individual allergens were called out,

Just got back from a European vacation. Noticed that each restaurant had an extensive allergen list on the menu. Around 15 individual allergens were called out, and labeled next to each it, with an index typically on the back page of the menu. New to the system, we found that crustaceans were a 3 in Spain and France, but in Italy, they were a 2 in some restaurants and a different number in others. The index was always written in the local language. So, if you lived in one region, and knew you had an allergy to “5” (whatever that might be), when you go to another region, if you blindly just avoid items with a “5”, you could still get unintentionally poisoned. The EU really missed an opportunity to standardize the numbering system, and may have caused more harm than good.