Food allergies

If you're eating out at a restaurant, the business must be able to advise you about any of the 14 food allergens used in any of the meals offered. This may be displayed on the menu or you can ask a member of staff and they must be able to check with the kitchen before you place an order.  Businesses who do not make this information available on the menu must display a sign explaining how to ask for this information. The kitchen must keep information on all their meal ingredients to ensure they can identify food allergens in all their menu items.

These rules only cover 14 major allergens allergy and intolerance (opens new window). If you are allergic to any other food that is not on the regulatory list or suffer a  food intolerance (opens new window),  you should still make the business aware before you order so they can check the recipe for you.

If you do have an allergy to certain foods, you can use Chef Cards (opens new window).

A chef card is a personalised card that describes in detail the foods you cannot eat, alternative names for the ingredient, and/or how to safely prepare your food to avoid cross-contamination. You hand these to a member of staff at the eatery, who will check with the chef what meals will be safe for you to eat. Make copies of the card and keep them with you.

The 14 allergens that need to be declared are: 

• Cereals containing gluten
• Crustaceans, for example prawns, crabs, lobster and crayfish
• Molluscs, for example clams, mussels, whelks, oysters, snails and squid
• Fish
• Eggs
• Peanuts
• Soybeans
• Milk
• Nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecan nuts, pistachio, cashew and macadamia (Queensland) nuts
• Celery and celeriac
• Mustard
• Sesame
• Sulphur dioxide, which is a preservative found in some dried fruit
• Lupin

Visit the Food Standards Agency website for more information. Food standards agency (opens new window) 

Your business will need to determine whether the food you sell is food prepared to order for immediate consumption, or packaged food. From 1 October 2021 the requirements for labelling prepacked food for direct sale (PPDS) changed (opens new window).

• If you are packing food, then the allergens need to be highlighted in the ingredients list, and you can no longer have a separate declaration of allergens present.
• If you sell packed food yourself (e.g. from a market stall) then you need to state the name of the food and an ingredients list with the allergens present highlighted within it. http://www.food.gov.uk/allergen-labelling-changes-for-prepacked-for-direct-sale-ppds-food (opens new window).
• If you are a caterer (including restaurants, takeaways, staff canteens etc) you need to be able to tell customers what allergens are in your meals. This can be done on the menu, price list or can be done by displaying a notice telling customers to ask staff for information about allergens. It is not an option to say you don't know. 
• In addition if you pre-pack items of food in readiness of an order (pots of sauce, salads, sandwiches) these items must be labelled with the name of the food and an ingredients list with the allergens present highlighted within it. http://www.food.gov.uk/allergen-labelling-changes-for-prepacked-for-direct-sale-ppds-food (opens new window).

• Cereals containing gluten
• Crustaceans, for example prawns, crabs, lobster and crayfish
• Molluscs, for example clams, mussels, whelks, oysters, snails and squid
• Fish
• Eggs
• Peanuts
• Soybeans
• Milk
• Nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecan nuts, pistachio, cashew and macadamia (Queensland) nuts
• Celery and celeriac
• Mustard
• Sesame
• Sulphur dioxide, which is a preservative found in some dried fruit
• Lupin

Visit the Food Standards Agency web site for more information. Food standards agency (opens new window).