Following Allergen Rules Is Crucial for Food Businesses

Following Allergen Rules Is Crucial for Food Businesses

Running a food business may be exciting, especially if you’re passionate, but it’s also time-consuming and daunting. You have a lot on your plate, and complying with food allergen rules is one of the top responsibilities on the long list.

Each food business in the UK must comply with the rules for food allergens outlined in the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU FIC). The UK Food Information Amendment, also called Natasha’s Law, is a vast source of information regarding this issue. So, if you own a company specialising in food products or a restaurant, you’ll find complete guidance and advice on food allergen management there.

There’s no secret that you must provide consumers with adequate information about the food they’re eating. If you fail to do so, you’re likely to face serious legal problems. Let’s detail it all so that you gain a more comprehensive picture of the issue.

The 14 major food allergens you should be mindful of

Under Natasha’s Law, you must advise if your food contains any of the below-mentioned allergic ingredients:

• tree nuts (such as hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, pecans, Brazil nuts, walnuts, and almonds)
• sulphur dioxide and sulphites (the concentration of these ingredients shouldn’t exceed ten parts per million)
• soybeans
• sesame
• peanuts
• mustard
• molluscs (such as oysters and mussels)
• milk
• lupin
• fish
• eggs
• crustaceans (such as lobsters, crabs, and shrimps)
• cereals containing gluten (including oats and barley)
• celery

Naturally, consumers might have an intolerance or be allergic to a range of other ingredients, but these aforementioned are the most common and also the ones required by the relevant authorities to be listed by businesses on their products.

Allergen-free requests

While you’re obliged to provide precise allergen information, you’re not obligated to deliver allergen-free products. So, if a consumer has a special request asking you to serve them an allergen-free meal, you can refuse. On the other hand, if you accept to prepare such a dish, you must ensure that it’s free of the allergic ingredients specified by the customer. Ensuring that the product isn’t contaminated is also a critical requirement. Simply put, everything from work surfaces and knives to bowls and workers’ hands should be thoroughly cleaned.

Furthermore, if the food is cooked with powdered ingredients that may contain allergens, it would be better not to prepare the dish. That’s because traces of the ingredients in question might have been hanging in the air at the moment of the preparation and falling on utensils, clothing, food, etc.

Preventing cross-contamination

If you own a food business, it’s crucial to do everything in your power to prevent cross-contamination in order to keep consumers safe and sound from a potential food allergy. Fortunately, there are various steps you can take in this regard, and the most recommended include:

• instruct the employees in a restaurant, for example, to wash their hands rigorously between preparing means with or without specific allergens
• separate the ingredients containing allergens from those that don’t
• keeping prepared foods and ingredients separately in categorised and closed containers
• cleaning and, preferably, sterilising utensils before every usage, notably if you used them to prepare dishes including allergic ingredients

Such practices are commonly adopted by companies and restaurants specialising in producing or delivering food. But, there are times when allergens are simply unavoidable. In this case, you should advise clients of this fact. It’s consumers’ right to know when they eat an allergen-free or allergen-containing dish. That can safeguard you from a contamination incident in which a customer or employee takes legal action as a result of developing an allergic reaction after consuming your product. According to https://www.howmuchcompensation.co.uk/, individuals who suffer because of others’ negligence are entitled to proceed with a claim. Therefore, if a consumer develops an allergy after eating a dish you called allergen-free but wasn’t, you’ll be legally responsible for a criminal act.

Allergen ingredient recording

As previously stated, you need to ensure your consumers’ safety by informing them about the potential allergic ingredients in one of your products. At the same time, you also have to ensure that the information reaches them. So, verbally advising the customer of the potential danger might not be enough. Consider recording the allergic ingredients in a written format, too. Possible approaches include:

• allergic ingredient informational should be specified in recipes or menus provided in the restaurant
• incorporate it in the ingredients list and product label
• write it down on the product specification sheet

Allergen labelling for diverse types of food

You’ll need to pick the method that best suits your company and the type of food you produce. The three main types of food include prepacked, prepacked for direct sale, and non-prepacked. While prepacked food refers to products put into a package before being made available for purchase, non-prepacked food involves that type of food product that isn’t packed before being placed on sale. Depending on what kind of food your business is focused on, you’ll have to take into account distinct allergen labelling rules.

Prepacked

Prepacked products must include allergen ingredient information on the packaging. Moreover, the allergic ingredients in question must be highlighted every time they appear on the list so that any incident or claim on the part of the customer is avoided.

Prepacked for direct sale

Prepacked for direct sale isn’t the same as prepacked, although this type of food has been packed similarly to the latter. Typical products of this sort involve pies, salads, and sandwiches prepared and sent to the consumer from the same premise. This kind of food has to include a label containing the full ingredients list and the allergens highlighted.

Non-prepacked

Non-prepacked or loose foods are commonly sold at a bakery, a delicatessen counter, a butcher’s, but also a restaurant. In case you serve such food products, you should provide allergen information for each item that might contain an allergic ingredient. If the allergens used in your products don’t fall into the category of the 14 earlier mentioned, you’re not obliged to inform about it.

Not complying with the allergen rules can lead to serious consequences. Legal problems, reputational damage, and customer disease are some of the most prominent.