Allergen information is the part of food law where a mistake can kill somebody, and it is enforced accordingly. The requirement is that information about the 14 regulated allergens is accurate, available and given in a way the customer can rely on, and that it comes from a system rather than from whoever is on shift.
The fourteen
Cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin and molluscs. They are the set the labelling rules are built around and the set an allergen matrix has to cover.
Loose and prepacked for direct sale
Food sold loose or made and packed on the same premises for direct sale carries its own rules, including the labelling requirement introduced for prepacked for direct sale food. Getting the category right decides what has to be written on the pack and what may be given verbally.
Allergen sheets: the matrix and the records
A dish by allergen matrix, kept current with every recipe and supplier change, is how a kitchen answers the question reliably. Supplier specifications are the source, and a change of supplier is a change of allergen data even when the dish is unchanged.
Answering the customer
Staff need to know where the information is and to be allowed to say they will check. The dangerous answer is a confident guess, and the system exists so that nobody has to make one; staff should also know that a customer declaring an allergy changes how the dish is prepared and not only what they are told.
A downloadable allergen chart template, and what it must not do
A matrix with dishes down one side and the fourteen allergens across the top is a useful tool and it is not the legal record. Four rules keep it honest. It must be derived from the actual ingredients and supplier specifications, which means the chart is updated the day a supplier or a recipe changes rather than at the next print run, so every copy carries a version and a date. It must not use may contain as a substitute for knowing: precautionary labelling is for a genuine cross contamination risk you have assessed and cannot remove. It must not be the only place the information lives, because staff have to be able to answer a question and direct a customer to written information, and a chart in the office behind a locked door fails that. And it does not cover prepacked for direct sale food, which needs a full ingredients list with the allergens emphasised on the pack itself rather than a chart on the wall.
Questions people ask about allergen law
What legislation regulates allergen labelling on food products?
Assimilated food information law, applied in Great Britain through the domestic food information regulations, sets the allergen labelling and information requirements. The FSA publishes the business guidance.
Do I have to write allergens down?
For prepacked food, yes, on the label. For loose food the information must be available and accurate; many businesses provide a written matrix because it is the only reliable way to be consistent.
What are the 14 allergens?
Cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin and molluscs.
Is a printable 14 allergens template enough to comply?
It is a useful format and it is not compliance on its own. The law requires allergen information for the fourteen named allergens to be accurate, available and given in a defined way: in writing for prepacked and prepacked for direct sale food, and for loose food either in writing at the point of choice or by a clearly signposted route to a member of staff who can give it. So a chart on the wall satisfies the second half only if it is right, dated and updated when a recipe or a supplier changes, and if staff know where it is. The failures are almost never the chart; they are a substituted ingredient nobody wrote down.