Changes to Allergen Labelling
Philip Wadsworth
Workforce Training
Eating out can be a minefield for those with allergies, but it doesn’t have to be. Food businesses have procedures to advise you of which allergens are in which food dishes. Dine out safely and enjoyably, navigating menus, communicating with restaurant staff, and ensuring a worry-free dining experience.
All businesses must follow the changes to allergen labelling requirements (if they apply to their business), also known as Natasha’s Law, and what is needed to comply.
Whether handling food in a café making sandwiches, selling cakes at a stall, or in a catering or manufacturing business, at the very least, an awareness of the importance but ideally an understanding of the importance and necessity of how to label allergens correctly.
Robust training will help achieve this. Workforce Training. Can provide relevant online e-learning. Please get in touch with Philip Wadsworth at Workforce Training.
Everyone has a moral & legal responsibility to ensure that the foods sold are labelled accurately and safe for every consumer.
What is pre-packed for the direct sale of PPDS food?
Pre-packed for direct sale (PPDS) is food that is packaged at the same place it is offered or sold to consumers and is in this packaging before it is ordered or selected. It can include food consumers select (e.g., from a display unit), products kept behind a counter, and some food sold at mobile or temporary outlets.
Any business that produces food pre-packed-for-direct sale (PPDS) must ensure the food is labelled with the name of the food and a list of ingredients on the label, including allergenic ingredients emphasised within the list in bold type.
The clarity of all labelling contributes to protecting consumers by providing possible life-saving precise allergen labelling information on the packaging.
Food Information Regulations (Natasha’s Law)
Natasha’s Law is the name given to a change in the UK’s Food Information Regulations, 2021.
The regulation changes now require all food businesses to sell food pre-packaged on the same site as the food supplied. The packaging must enclose the food entirely so the contents cannot be altered without opening or changing the packaging. These foods are no longer exempt from needing a food label.
These regulations (Food Information Regulations (Natasha’s Law) apply to all food businesses selling pre-packed food on the same site as the food offered or sold, such as restaurants or care homes. The regulation changes now apply to all food businesses selling food pre-packaged on the same site as the food supplied. The packaging must enclose the food entirely so the contents cannot be altered without opening or changing the packaging. These foods are no longer exempt from needing a food label.
These regulations apply to all food businesses selling pre-pack food on the same site as the food offered or sold, such as restaurants or care homes.
Foods Exempt from Natasha’s Law include:
- Any food packed after being ordered by the consumer
- Food packed by one business and supplied to another business (full labelling required)
- Foods that are distance sold, e.g. ordered by phone or on a website
If pre-packaged for direct sale (PPDS) foods are not labelled on-site, Trading Standards or Environmental Health Officers may provide advice, serve an improvement notice, or prosecute a business.
A more serious offence is mislabelling food, especially if allergens are missing from the ingredients list and an allergic incident occurs. Enforcement officers are likely to take formal action in these cases, which could result in seizure, prosecution, unlimited fines, and imprisonment.
Is There Any Voluntary or Precautionary Information?
In addition to mandatory allergen information, voluntary information highlighting the unintentional presence of allergens, usually from unavoidable cross-contamination, should also be provided.
Precautionary allergen labelling often appears on packaging as “may contain” or “not suitable for” information. Although not a legal requirement of food law, information on the unintended presence of allergens for PPDS foods is recommended on the packaging or label.
This ensures that consumers with a food allergy or intolerance know the risks and that the food is safe.
This should only be provided in scenarios where this risk cannot be removed through risk management actions, such as segregation and cleaning.
Labelling Multi-Packs of Individually Wrapped Items
If individual packets from a multi-pack are separated, they should only be sold or offered if they are individually labelled and comply with labelling requirements.
What Foods Require PDDS Labelling?
The change to labelling requirements does not apply to prepacked food sold for direct sale (PPDS) using distance selling, such as food that can be purchased over the phone or on the Internet. Businesses selling PPDS food must ensure the consumer has mandatory allergen information before they buy the product and at the moment of delivery. The legally required allergen information must be provided. This could be allergen labelling.
Examples: Prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food can include the following:
- Sandwiches and bakery products are packed on-site before a consumer selects or orders them.
- Fast food packed before it is ordered, such as a burger under a hot lamp, where the food cannot be altered without opening the packaging
Products prepackaged on-site and ready for sale, such as pizzas, rotisserie
and pasta pots. Legal Responsibility for Food LabellingPacking food products on-site to sell to consumers means the business is responsible for labelling the food products. Current information from suppliers must be given to produce accurate labels. This ensures that processes are in place to update this information when a change is received from suppliers or if ingredients change.
The Name of the Food
The food label must state the food’s legal name or, in the absence of a legal name, its customary name. This could be a descriptive name providing an accurate description of the product.
A Products Legal Name
Some foods have a legally defined name. This can be a prescribed name or a reserved description:
- Prescribed names are names that EU or UK food law specifies must be used for certain foods. For example, ‘sausage’, ‘jam’, ‘sugar’, ‘butter’, ‘skimmed milk’ and various seafood species, fish and meat.
Reserved descriptions – To use specifically reserved food descriptions, the food must contain a certain percentage of an ingredient. For example, a ‘beef burger’ must contain 62% beef; an ‘economy beef burger’ must contain 47% beef.
Requirements for Naming a Product
A product’s name must be precise enough to reveal its true nature. Some products have customary names that, over time, have become accepted by consumers in the UK and need no further explanation.
e.g., fish fingers or Bakewell tarts.
What Needs to be on the Label?
The label needs to show the food’s name and list of ingredients, emphasising the 14 allergens required by law to be declared.
These must align with the legal requirements for naming the food and listing ingredients.
Listing of the Ingredients
Any of the 14 allergens contained in the food are required by food law to be emphasised in the ingredients list. The correct allergen labelling can be done using bold type, capital letters, contrasting colours or through underlining.
All allergens in any product must be indicated if the food’s name refers to the allergen, such as ‘milk’.
Workforce Training (www.workforcetraining.uk) Introduction to Allergen Labelling November 2024
The list of ingredients must be headed or preceded by a suitable heading that includes the word ‘ingredients’. The ingredients used must be listed in descending order of weight when the product was made.
Gluten is an allergen.
It is a protein found in three types of cereals—wheat, barley, and rye—and in any food product that uses these ingredients, such as pasta, bread, cakes, and ready-made sauces. Gluten is one of the 14 named allergens that must be labelled if it is present in the food products you produce, sell, and serve.
People with coeliac disease—a digestive condition in which the body reacts adversely to the substances found in gluten—must follow a gluten-free diet to control their condition and prevent harmful long-term complications. This makes gluten-free labels on food even more important.
The increasing choice of ‘free-from’ foods allows people to choose gluten-free, dairy-free, or sugar-free products to follow a healthier diet. A business producing and selling these foods may benefit from highlighting them.
Printed Food Labels
Printed labels for PPDS products may be the preferred option. Software solutions or labelling programmes with printers produce clear labels for individual packets without excess, reducing waste. In addition, no unused labels are left lying around just in case more labels are required, reducing costly mistakes.
Handwritten Food Labels as long as they meet the legal font size requirements. The labels should be easily visible and legible. Allergens can be emphasised using bold type, capital letters, contrasting colours or through underlining.
Training Courses at Workforce Training
Our online e-learning Food Allergen Awareness Training Course will teach you to comply with the UK’s allergen laws.
Open Public Courses and Training directly to Employers
Workforce Training (www.workforcetraining.uk) Introduction to Allergen Labelling November 2024
