The EU list of 14 food allergens
European Union law highlights 14 specific allergens that must be highlighted on a label. These are cereals containing gluten (wheat, barley, rye etc), crustaceans (eg shrimp, prawn), molluscs (eg mussel, oyster), eggs, fish, peanuts, nuts, soybeans, milk, celery, mustard, sesame, lupin and sulphur dioxide.
There are some exceptions, where the food is so highly processed that the allergen is no longer capable of triggering an adverse reaction e.g. fish gelatin in beer/wine, soya in vegetable oil.
If your allergy is not one of the 14 listed (e.g. lentil) there is no legal duty for the seller to highlight the presence of that ingredient on a label, so you need to read the full list of ingredients carefully.
If you go to another country outside the EU, or you eat something brought from outside the EU, then these rules do not necessarily apply (eg in the US, sesame does not need to be highlighted in the same way as peanut).
Pre-packed foods
For pre-packed foods, ie where fully wrapped, boxed or otherwise contained, there must be an ingredients label (unless the name of the product makes it clear eg Semi-skimmed milk) and the allergen must be emphasised in bold, or capitals, or a different colour. The specific type of cereal or nut must also be stated. The official Food Standards Agency guidance is here: https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/allergen-labelling-guidance-for-food-manufacturers
There is however an exception – see below.
Sandwiches that don’t need ingredient labels (yet)
The exception is “Pre-packed for direct sale” (PPDS) – this is where something has been made freshly for the customer ordering it (e.g. a sandwich) or has been made and then packaged in the same premises it is to be sold eg a cafe. No label is required in this situation.
Following a public consultation, the UK government has committed to introducing “Natasha’s Law” – by summer 2021 all such products will require a full ingredients’ label.
There is still the danger of the wrong label being applied, so we would still recommend if possible talking to the person who has prepared the food item and confirming that it is what you think it is, and that it does not contain the allergens you need to avoid.
For these foods, and for any food not sold packaged (e.g. take away, restaurant, café food) different rules regarding provision of allergy information apply.
Allergy information in restaurants, cafes etc
Any business selling food, whether a restaurant, café, take away etc must be able to handle allergy information requests from customers. Staff should receive training in this on the first day of the job. Allergy information does not have to be printed on a menu, but they do have a duty to provide accurate information when asked, and this must be backed up by written information to ensure it is accurate and consistent.
For buffet food, the restaurant has to provide allergen information for each food item separately rather than for the buffet as a whole.
For takeaway food, allergen information must be provided at two stages in the process:
- Before the purchase of the food is completed – this could be in writing (for example on a website, catalogue or menu) or orally (for example by phone)
- When the food is delivered – this could be in writing (for example on allergen stickers on food or enclosed hard copy of menu) or orally (for example by phone)
The allergen information should be available to a customer in a written form at some point between a customer placing the order and taking delivery of it.
It is no longer acceptable for a food business to say that they do not know whether or not a food contains a listed allergen, or that all their foods may contain allergens.
Staff should know the risks of allergen cross-contamination when handling and preparing foods and how to prevent this. If there is a reason they can’t avoid cross-contamination they should tell you that they can’t provide an allergen-free dish.
There are reports of restaurants asking customers with allergies to sign a waiver, or else saying they can’t guarantee your food will not contain an allergen. There is no legal basis for such waivers – the restaurant has a duty to practice safely and would be liable for any harm caused by unsafe practices. Equally, customers should not demand such guarantees – your rights are to be informed about the ingredients used, and potential for cross contamination from the cooking methods used. A restaurant cannot be responsible for the manufacturing processes of suppliers they use.
“May contain” labels etc
What are Precautionary allergy labels?
These are extra bits of information sometimes provided on labels, in addition to the actual ingredients and include phrases such as “may contain…”, “Made in a factory where…”. These precautionary allergy labels are not legally required, but manufacturers are encouraged to use them to warn their customers of a risk of accidental contamination during the production process. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) (2006) encourages manufacturers to be as precise as possible within descriptions e.g. which specific nut, or else peanut or “tree nuts” rather than just “nuts”. In reality different companies do different things, for example Kelloggs does not differentiate between peanut and tree nuts when they put a warning label on about nuts.
Is there a real risk or not?
Contamination of chocolate is a particular problem, particularly with nuts, and with milk in the case of dark chocolate. In some studies, half of all the chocolate tested was contaminated.
But most foods carrying such a label will not contain any of the allergen mentioned, indeed it is sometimes hard to imagine how it possibly could! In an Irish study looking at foods labelled/ marked “may contain peanut/nut” 5% had detectable levels of either. This is a significant proportion, but in actuality the peanut or nut present was at such low levels they would be unlikely to cause a reaction in the majority of allergic people.
Aren’t they just a way of avoiding legal liability?
The FSA clearly state that these labels should only be used where there is a real and unavoidable risk. Though it’s not clear that this statement changes the company’s legal responsibilities – if there is evidence that a manufacturer has been producing food in an unsafe manner, they would be liable regardless of whether there was a warning or not.
When is a trace not a trace?
The idea of threshold is important – how much of the allergen is actually present, and is it even enough to cause a reaction? Not everyone reacts at the same threshold, and the differences between individuals can be a factor of ten or even a hundred. Australia and New Zealand ask manufacturers to look at actual levels of contamination before putting a warning on their products. In the UK and Europe, the risk associated with the processes is what matters, rather than the actual levels of contamination. It’s not clear which is actually more useful.
So what should you do about traces?
Many people tend to ignore these warnings, particularly when it is something they have eaten many times before, or when it is a big brand name, and when the wording is ambiguous rather than direct. Yet there is no good evidence that any of these things actually makes a difference to the real risk.
What is definitely true is that people have unexpected reactions and this can be after eating things marked with these warnings, but equally after eating things without these warnings.
What is also true is that allowing yourself to eat things marked with these warnings makes life much simpler, but is it worth it?
Some patient organisations such as Anaphylaxis Campaign recommend avoiding anything marked with precautionary allergy labels, if only because this puts the control in your hands rather than leaving you at the mercy of the manufacturers.
Doctors often recommend avoiding anything with an allergy warning, because it “seems” safer and they don’t appreciate how difficult it is in day to day life.
So you should discuss with your allergy professional, but you probably have to make your own choice as a family. If you have a nut allergy, and it’s chocolate or something else that often does contain nuts then the risk seems significant. If it’s something that wouldn’t usually contain nuts, you’ve had it before, and you’re at home with your family then maybe the risk is acceptable to you. But if you are away on holiday, you’ve forgotten to bring your allergy medicines, your asthma is playing up and it’s late at night then that’s probably the worst time to take a chance.
You can find the Allergen Labelling Guidance HERE.
This is not a legal requirement, and most foods with these warnings will not contain any of the specified allergen. Nor is there much evidence that foods labelled this way are more likely to cause allergic reactions than those without these advisory warnings.
Nuts and Not nuts
See Peanut and Tree nut allergy page for what counts as a nut and what doesn’t