Allergen information for distance selling

If you’re selling food online, through phone ordering, or any other distance method, you need to comply with the UK’s strict requirements for the provision of allergen information. Whether you’re running a restaurant offering delivery, an online bakery, or a food ordering app, knowing your legal responsibilities is essential for keeping your customers safe and… Read more »

New guidance for allergen information

Food Standards Agency (FSA) opens a public consultation into new Best Practice Guidance for the provision of Allergen Information for Non-Prepacked Foods. Current legislation requires food businesses to tell customers if the food they are serving contains any of the 14 notifiable allergens, choosing whether they provide this information in writing or verbally. The FSA… Read more »

Naming vegan alternatives to dairy foods

In recent years, the rise of vegan diets has increased the variety and availability of plant-based alternatives to dairy products. Consumers now have an array of options; from almond, oat and soy ‘milk’ to vegan ‘cheese’, ‘yogurt’ and ‘cream’. However, UK food producers face significant challenges in naming these products due to stringent regulations prohibiting… Read more »

Beyond the 14 regulated food allergens

Since creating Menu Guide, we’ve encountered an increasingly diverse range of foods that may cause allergic reactions in adults and children. We’ve also found that the list of foods legally classified as allergens may vary by country. In the UK, 14 foods are legally required to be declared as allergens. These are: celery, cereals containing… Read more »

6% of UK adults have a food allergy

The Patterns and Prevalence of Adult Food Allergy (PAFA) report, published in May 2024 by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has found that around 6% of the UK adult population are estimated to have a clinically confirmed food allergy. This equates to around 2.4 million people. Food allergy, also known as hypersensitivity, is caused by… Read more »

Food allergies and ‘vegan’ labelling

Is vegan food safe for people with food allergies? Many people choose to eat plant-based foods for a variety of reasons; from ethical concerns to environmental impact. But, for those with food allergies, the seemingly safe haven of vegan-labelled products may not be as secure as it appears. Vegan labelling is not the same as… Read more »

Food allergens and the law

Legal requirements for UK food businesses If you run a food business in the UK, you must comply with the relevant legislation. Here’s a quick recap and the most recent developments to bring you up to date: 6 April 2022 – Mandatory calorie labelling on menus A new requirement for large food businesses (with more… Read more »

Primary Authority

Menu Guide is in a Primary Authority Partnership with Milton Keynes Council. This means that, following a comprehensive review, the Menu Guide website has received assured Primary Authority Advice in relation to relevant legislation, namely the Retained EU Law EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (No.1169/2011) and the Food Information Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1855). What… Read more »

Top tips for allergen control

1.5 million people in the UK have a food allergy or intolerance. Around 10 people each year die from eating something that they are allergic to and many more become severely ill. Food allergies are a major food safety issue and quite rightly command a great deal of attention from the media and the Food… Read more »

QR codes

Why are they so useful? Once denigrated as ‘ugly, overused and doomed’, Quick Response (QR) codes became ubiquitous during the pandemic and are proving to be a very useful tool for the hospitality industry. These two-dimensional matrix bar codes are designed to store lots of information, stand out and be read easily from any direction…. Read more »