Allergen Guidance for Consumers

What a food allergy is and what allergen information food businesses must provide to you. The precautions you need to take if you or someone you know has an allergy.

If you have a food allergy or intolerance, it is important that you have the information you need to make safe food choices.

If you are eating out, or preparing your own food, there are allergen labelling and information laws that require food businesses to provide you with information about what is in your food.

If you feel ill or have an allergic reaction after eating you should seek medical help immediately. The NHS website has information on what to do in the event of an allergic reaction.

Eating Out

When you eat out or order a takeaway the restaurant or café must provide you with allergen information in writing. This could be, for example, allergen information on their menu or a prompt explaining how you can obtain this information. This may include advice that you ask a member of staff about the allergen contents of a dish you might want to order.

May Contain

Food businesses can use phrases such as ‘may contain’ to inform customers that there may be small amounts of an allergen in a food product. This is sometimes known as ‘precautionary allergen labelling’.

Allergen cross-contamination can happen unintentionally when there is a risk that the allergen has entered the product accidentally during the production process. This can sometimes happen when several food products are made on the same premises.

There is no specific legal requirement to label food with ‘may contain’. However, food must be safe to eat and information to help people with allergies make safe choices, and manage their condition effectively, must be provided.

Manufacturers may also choose to mark products as ‘not suitable for’. This is precautionary allergen labelling. Where you see precautionary allergen labelling, there is a risk of the unintentional presence of the allergen in the food. If you have an allergy, you should not eat food with this labelling.

Vegan Food and Allergens

When you buy vegan food, you might not expect it to contain any trace amounts of milk, egg, fish, crustaceans and molluscs. However, trace amounts of cross contamination can occur when vegan food is produced in a factory or kitchen that also handles non-vegan food.

This is why packaging for some vegan products sometimes include precautionary allergen labelling such as ‘may contain’. This means the products could include traces of allergens such as milk, eggs, fish, molluscs and crustaceans, which could pose a risk if you have a food allergy to these.

It is very important to read the label to see if the product is safe for you, even if it is a ‘vegan’ product. You should also be very clear about your allergy/intolerance when ordering vegan food while eating out, to ensure that the meal that is served is safe for you.