Allergen Awareness and Natasha's Law: What Food Businesses Must Do
For someone with a serious food allergy, a single mislabelled sandwich can be a matter of life or death. UK law treats it that way too — and every food business, from a high-street bakery to a school canteen, has a legal duty to get allergens right.
Allergen management is one of the most heavily regulated parts of running a food business in the UK, and for good reason. Allergic reactions can escalate to anaphylaxis within minutes, and the people most at risk are relying entirely on the information you give them. Getting allergen information accurate, accessible and honest is not optional — it is a legal requirement enforced by local authorities and the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
This guide explains the 14 named allergens, the labelling rules introduced by Natasha's Law, what your staff need to know, and where these duties come from in law. If you handle food in any way, this is essential reading.
The 14 allergens you must declare
UK food law identifies 14 allergens that must be declared whenever they are used as ingredients. These are set out in retained Regulation (EC) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers. Whenever any of these are present, you must make that information available to the customer.
- Cereals containing gluten — including wheat, rye, barley and oats
- Crustaceans — such as prawns, crab and lobster
- Eggs
- Fish
- Peanuts
- Soybeans
- Milk — including lactose
- Nuts — such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios and macadamia nuts
- Celery
- Mustard
- Sesame
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at concentrations above the regulated threshold
- Lupin
- Molluscs — such as mussels, oysters and squid
When these allergens appear in a list of ingredients, they must be emphasised — for example in bold, capitals or a contrasting colour — so they stand out clearly.
What is Natasha's Law?
Natasha's Law is the everyday name for the labelling requirement that came into force in October 2021 across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, a teenager who died following an allergic reaction to a baguette that did not carry full ingredient information. The law changed the rules for a specific category of food: prepacked for direct sale, usually shortened to PPDS.
Natasha's Law closed a gap that meant freshly made, prepacked items could be sold without a full ingredients list — leaving allergic consumers guessing about what was safe to eat.
What counts as PPDS food?
PPDS food is food that is packaged at the same place it is offered or sold to consumers, and is in that packaging before the customer orders it. Typical examples include a sandwich made on site and wrapped before being placed in a chiller, a boxed salad prepared in the morning, or a packaged cake sold from the counter where it was made.
For all PPDS food, the label must show the name of the food and a full list of ingredients, with the 14 allergens emphasised within that list. There is no longer any shortcut for freshly prepared packaged items.
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What about non-prepacked food?
If you sell loose food that is not prepacked — a meal served at a restaurant table, food sold from a deli counter, or a takeaway dish made to order — you must still provide accurate allergen information. The difference is that it can be given in writing or signposted to a member of staff who can tell the customer. A menu note such as "Ask our staff about allergens" is acceptable only if a trained team member can then give correct, specific information on request.
Why staff training matters
Labels and matrices only work if your team understands them. A well-managed kitchen relies on every member of staff knowing how to read an allergen matrix, how to answer a customer's question honestly, and what to do if they are not certain. Training also reinforces the importance of preventing cross-contamination, because an allergen-free recipe is worthless if traces are transferred during preparation.
Effective allergen training should cover the 14 allergens, how to handle "may contain" advice, the procedure for confirming information before serving, and how allergen control sits alongside your wider food safety systems. Many businesses build this into their broader HACCP approach so that allergens are treated as a controlled hazard rather than an afterthought.
The legal duty in plain terms
The core obligation is simple: food information must be accurate, available and not misleading. This duty flows from retained EU food information law and is underpinned by the Food Safety Act 1990 and the food hygiene regulations enforced by your local authority. Getting it wrong can lead to enforcement action, prohibition notices, fines and — in the most serious cases — prosecution. Beyond the legal exposure, the reputational damage of an allergen incident can be severe.
Key takeaways
- There are 14 named allergens you must declare whenever they are used as ingredients.
- Natasha's Law requires PPDS food to carry the name of the food and a full ingredients list with allergens emphasised.
- Non-prepacked food still needs accurate allergen information, given in writing or by a trained staff member.
- Allergen information must be accurate, accessible and not misleading — this is a legal duty, not best practice.
- Trained staff are your strongest defence: they answer questions, prevent mistakes and protect customers.
Allergen awareness is not a box-ticking exercise. It protects vulnerable customers, keeps your business on the right side of the law, and builds the trust that brings people back. The most reliable way to embed it is to make sure everyone who touches food has been properly trained — and to keep that training current as menus and suppliers change.
