A food allergy is an abnormal response to a food triggered by your body's immune system. Allergic reactions to food can sometimes cause serious illness and death. New legislation about how food is labelled came into force in December 2014 affecting food businesses in the UK.
The legislation requires that foods you buy from shops has the allergens emphasised in the ingredients list, either in bold, underlined or highlighted text. You will no longer see separate information listing the allergens in a food.
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 will only cover 14 major allergensallergy and intolerance. If you are allergic to any other food that is not on the regulatory list, 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.
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
A food allergy is an abnormal response to a food triggered by your body's immune system. Allergic reactions to food can sometimes cause serious illness and death. In December 2014 new legislation about how food is labelled came into force for businesses to follow.
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 any allergens present.
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.
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
Wiltshire Council