For a person with a food allergy, a mistake can be fatal. As a manager you are responsible for the system that keeps people safe: information, ingredients, training and controls.
The 14 allergens
The law requires businesses to tell customers if food contains any of these 14: celery, cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats), crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (above 10 mg per kg or litre), and tree nuts.
Information duties: non-prepacked food
For food sold loose (a restaurant dish, a café sandwich made to order):
- You must be able to give allergen information for every dish, and it must be accurate and consistent.
- It can be written (menu, chart, label, folder) or oral if staff are trained, but if oral, you must put a clear sign telling customers to ask a member of staff. Written backup should be available.
- Keep a record of the ingredients of every dish, so information can be checked. Keep recipes and supplier specifications up to date.
- Make sure the information is correct on the day. Check deliveries: a supplier can change a product's ingredients.
- A customer's question must never be answered with a guess. If staff do not know, they ask the manager or check the record.
Prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) and Natasha's Law
Natasha's Law is named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after eating a baguette whose label did not list sesame seeds.
Since 1 October 2021, food that is prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) needs a full label on the packaging with:
- the name of the food;
- a full ingredients list, with the allergens emphasised every time they appear (for example in bold, capitals, or underlined).
PPDS food is packed on the same premises where it is offered or sold before the customer orders it: for example a sandwich made in the morning and wrapped for the lunchtime shelf, or a packed salad in a café. It is not PPDS if the customer orders the food first and it is wrapped for them (for example a made-to-order sandwich), or if it is loose. These cases follow the non-prepacked rules above. Food packed by another business follows the full prepacked labelling rules.
Check the label each time the recipe changes. Distance selling (telephone or online) is covered by its own information rules: allergen information must be available before the order is made and at delivery.
Controls in the kitchen
- Cross-contact: allergens must not get from one food to another. Use separate equipment and surfaces where needed, clean thoroughly, wash hands, change gloves and cloths, and use clean oil.
- Storage: keep allergen ingredients in labelled sealed containers, and store them below other foods.
- Staff: a tray of hot food made without nuts is only safe if the person making it and the person serving it follow the same system.
- "May contain" is a warning of unavoidable risk. It is not a substitute for good control, and you should never use it to avoid doing the work.
- Do not promise "allergen-free" unless you can truly show it. Say what you can say with confidence.
Handling a customer who tells you about an allergy
- Take it seriously and note it clearly on the order.
- Check the information for each dish with the kitchen.
- Make the dish separately, with clean equipment and hands, by someone who knows.
- Deliver it personally and tell the customer how it was prepared.
- If a reaction starts, call 999 at once, and say it is an allergic reaction (anaphylaxis).
Train and review
- Train all staff, including front of house and temporary staff, and keep records.
- Review your allergen information when you change a recipe, supplier or menu.
- Use FSA's free allergen training and guidance to support your team.
Key points
- 14 allergens, information for every dish, correct on the day.
- PPDS since 1 October 2021: name, full ingredients and emphasised allergens on the label.
- Control cross-contact and keep supplier information current.
- Never guess: check, and call 999 for a severe reaction.