Food Allergen Label Laws

Understanding and correctly implementing food allergen labels is a crucial legal requirement and essential for consumer safety. This guide outlines the mandatory regulations for labelling allergenic ingredients in food products sold in the UK.

Allergic reactions to food can range from mild discomfort to more serious outcomes, making accurate food allergen information vital for consumers with food allergies and intolerances.  Clearly identifying and communicating the presence of allergens in your food products is important.

As a food business operator, you have a legal responsibility to clearly identify and communicate the presence of allergens in your products.

The 14 Main Allergens

If your product contains any of the main 14 allergens as an ingredient or processing aid, it must be included on the label. The 14 main allergens in food are:

•    celery
•    cereals containing gluten – including wheat (such as spelt and Khorasan), rye, barley and oats
•    crustaceans – such as prawns, crabs and lobsters
•    eggs
•    fish
•    lupin
•    milk
•    molluscs – such as mussels and oysters
•    mustard
•    tree nuts – including almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts
•    peanuts
•    sesame seeds
•    soybeans
•    sulphur dioxide and sulphites (if they are at a concentration of more than ten parts per million)

Ingredients List

Pre-packed food must have an ingredients list. Allergenic ingredients must be emphasised in some way every time they appear in the ingredients list. For example, you can list them in bold, contrasting colours or by underlining them.

Allergenic ingredients must be declared with a clear reference to the allergen to ensure clear and uniform understanding.

Examples of ingredients that need to be clearly referenced to the allergen are:
•    tofu (soya)
•    tahini paste (sesame)
•    whey (milk)

Allergen advice statements can also be used on the product label to explain how allergen information is presented on a label, for example:

•    ‘Allergen Advice: for allergens, see ingredients in bold’
•    ‘Allergen Advice: for allergens including cereals that contain gluten see ingredients in red’

For alcoholic drinks with no ingredients list, allergens must be indicated by the word ‘contains’ followed by the name of the allergen.

If there is a risk of a food product being affected by allergen cross-contamination, the label should include one of the following statements:

•    may contain X
•    not suitable for someone with X allergy

Precautionary Labelling

Precautionary allergen labelling should only be used after a thorough risk assessment. It should only be used if the risk of allergen cross-contamination is real and cannot be removed.

Where products are sold in multi-packs, allergens must be displayed on the outer packaging.

Free from food are special ranges of foods made without allergens. If a label states that your product is 'free-from milk' or, 'peanut free', it has to be based on specific and rigorous controls.

These controls need to ensure that the final product is completely free of the particular allergen. This includes checking that all ingredients and packing materials do not contain this allergen and that cross-contamination from other foods made on site is prevented.

There is one exception to this rule which is gluten. Gluten-free labelled products can contain a maximum 20mg/kg of gluten. Ensure that the correct labels are applied to products and any outer packaging.