Foods high in iron: ranked by France's official Ciqual table

What it does

Iron's main job is carrying oxygen and helping your cells use it. Your body recycles it very efficiently but has no way to get rid of an excess, so everything is regulated at absorption. Food contains two forms. Heme iron, found only in meat, organ meats, fish and shellfish, is the best absorbed. Non-heme iron, found in almost every food including plants, is absorbed less well, and how much you take in depends on the rest of the meal and on your iron stores. A long-lasting shortfall can lead to iron-deficiency anemia.

The ranking: the 25 everyday foods highest in iron

Outside the ranking, the absolute record-holders in the table are foods eaten in very small amounts: “Gut weed (Ulva sp.), dried or dehydrated” (205 mg/100 g), “Chlorella, dried or dehydrated” (177 mg/100 g), “Lithothamnion (Lithothamnion), dried or dehydrated” (144 mg/100 g).

How much you need

On EU labels, the nutrient reference value (NRV) for iron is 14 mg a day (Regulation 1169/2011). Your real needs depend mostly on menstruation. According to EFSA (2015), the population reference intake is 11 mg a day for men and postmenopausal women, 16 mg for women before menopause, including during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and 13 mg for teenage girls. France's ANSES uses the same figures but separates women with light to moderate periods (11 mg) from those with heavy periods (16 mg). These numbers already account for the fact that you absorb only a small share of dietary iron: 16 to 18% in EFSA's calculations.

Best sources, food group by food group

Practical tips

• Pair plant iron with vitamin C. It boosts non-heme iron absorption, ANSES notes: raw bell pepper or a kiwi with your lentils helps. It matters all the more because iron from vegetarian diets is less available: 5 to 12%, versus 14 to 18% for mixed diets, according to Hurrell and Egli (2010).
• Keep tea and coffee away from meals. Polyphenols, like calcium and phytates, reduce iron absorption in single-meal studies; across a varied diet the effect is smaller (Hurrell and Egli, 2010). If your iron is low, drink them between meals.
• Read the ranking critically. Fortified cereals and dark chocolate rank high per 100 g, but their iron is non-heme and less well absorbed. Black pudding, liver, cockles and clams provide heme iron.
• Tired all the time? Doctor before supplements. ANSES lists children, pregnant women, women with heavy periods and people with poor absorption as most at risk. Don't start iron on your own: too much is harmful, and a blood test ordered by your doctor gives the answer.

How this ranking is built

Values per 100 g of the food as described (raw, cooked, drained…), as published by ANSES, France's food safety agency, in the 2025 Ciqual table (3484 foods; iron content known for 2465 of them). The everyday ranking leaves out spices, herbs, seaweed and condiments, supplements and foods for special medical purposes, baby foods, alcohol, and raw meat or fish (the cooked version is kept). To keep the examples varied, only one food per main name is kept (the richest). Values listed as “traces” count as zero; values below the quantification limit are not ranked. % NRV compares the content per 100 g with the EU nutrient reference value (14 mg per day, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011), the one used on food labels: a benchmark, not your personal requirement.