HAVE THE RIGHT REACTION READY FOR NEW ALLERGY LABELLING GUIDELINES

New regulations will mean that from 13th December this year food premises must highlight inclusions of fourteen major allergens by name.

Statements such as ‘May Contain Nuts’ and ‘May Contain Gluten’ will no longer be acceptable with the signposting to be more specific. These allergens are seen as being: –
1. Cereals containing gluten with cereal type to be listed i.e. wheat, rye and barley
2. Crustaceans e.g. prawns, crabs, lobster and crayfish
3. Eggs
4. Fish
5. Peanuts
6. Soybeans
7. Milk
8. Nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecan nuts, brazil nuts, pistachio, cashew and macadamia
9. Celery
10. Mustard
11. Sesame
12. Sulphur dioxide i.e. preservative found in some dried fruit
13. Lupin
14. Molluscs e.g. clams, mussels, whelks, oysters, snails and squid

With food sold without packaging or wrapped on site, information can be provided in writing, via clear signposting or orally.

For the consumer, a ‘chef card’ is available on http://multimedia.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/chefcard.pdf. By presenting this to the catering team, it will tell them which foods need to be avoided.

To be ready for these changes catering departments should make ‘chef cards’ available from the food counter and display the ‘Allergens Matrix’ for ‘daily’ and ‘general’ menu items.