Ingredient decoder
Sesamum indicum
Sesamum indicum is a sesame-derived ingredient in the 2S albumins family — one of the names sesame hides under on ingredient labels.
Label check
Since 2023, US labels must declare sesame as a major allergen — but imported products may still hide it under these names.
Allergen family data
| Family | Category | Severity | Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2S albumins | contact | Can cause contact dermatitis, respiratory symptoms, and in severe cases anaphylaxis | Curated mapping |
Sources: SleuthIt curated dataset
Also appears as
Cross-reactivity
~25-50% of peanut allergics react to tree nuts
Cashew-pistachio cross-reactivity is very strong (~90%)
Variable cross-reactivity between peanut and hazelnut
Case notes
"Sesamum indicum" is simply the botanical name for sesame, and it is one of the names sesame hides under on ingredient labels. A parent scanning a package for the word "sesame" can read straight past it, because nothing about the Latin binomial looks like a nut, a seed, or a top allergen. The same is true of the older and regional aliases that still appear in print: til, teel, and gingelly all mean sesame. Related products carry their own vocabulary too — tahini, benne, halvah, gomasio, and sesamol — so the ingredient can be present without the familiar word ever appearing.
Labeling rules help, but they do not close the gap entirely. Since 2023, US labels must declare sesame as a major allergen; imported products, however, may still list it under these alternate names. That makes specialty aisles, international groceries, and gifted or shared snacks the places where a botanical or regional name is most likely to slip through unnoticed.
On the allergen side, sesame sits in the 2S albumins family, a group of seed storage proteins that also includes Ara h 2/6/7 from peanut, Jug r 1 from walnut, Ana o 3 from cashew, and Cor a 14 from hazelnut. Structural similarity within this family is why cross-reactivity comes up at all — for example, roughly 25 to 50 percent of people allergic to peanut react to tree nuts. Logging which named forms show up in your household, and how your child does afterward, turns a confusing label into something you can actually compare over time.
Questions
Sesamum indicum is a sesame-derived ingredient in the 2S albumins family — one of the names sesame hides under on ingredient labels.