Allergens when eating out: what the business must tell you

If you or your child has a food allergy, you have the right to know what is in a dish at a UK cafe, bakery or restaurant. By law the business must tell you whether the food contains any of the 14 regulated allergens. Here is how it works and what to ask.

What are the 14 allergens that must be declared?

The Food Standards Agency (FSA, the government food-safety body) lists them in full: celery; cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley and oats); crustaceans (prawns, crabs and lobsters); eggs; fish; lupin; milk; molluscs (mussels and oysters); mustard; peanuts; sesame; soybeans; sulphur dioxide and sulphites (above ten parts per million); and tree nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts). The rule applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

What did "Natasha's Law" change?

From 1 October 2021, food that is prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) — items wrapped on the premises before being ordered, such as a sandwich, salad or pastry — must carry a label showing a full ingredients list with the allergens emphasised, for example in bold. This is "Natasha's Law", named after a teenager who died from an unlabelled sesame allergen in a baguette. Previously such food could be sold with no ingredients on the pack.

What if the dish is made to order?

Food made to order or sold loose (non-prepacked) — a hot cafe meal, a pizza, a plate from the kitchen — does not need a printed label. But allergen information must still be available: spoken by staff, written in the menu, or signposted so you know where to ask. The FSA puts it plainly: businesses "must offer you allergen information".

What should a customer do?

Mention the allergy before you order, not after. Ask to see the ingredients or allergen information in writing if you are unsure about a spoken answer. On food packed on site, look for the label with the allergens emphasised — its absence on a PPDS product is a breach. If a reaction would be serious, do not rely on "probably not": if the answer is unclear, choose something else. You can complain about a business to your local council's environmental health team.

How far can you trust a "may contain" note?

Phrases such as "may contain nuts" are a voluntary warning about possible cross-contamination in the kitchen, not part of the mandatory 14-allergen labelling. The law requires the allergens in the recipe to be declared precisely, but it does not regulate wording about accidental traces. So with a serious allergy, ask not only about ingredients but about how the dish is prepared: on a shared surface, in the same oil, with the same utensils. Staff must give you an allergen answer, and that answer should be the same from different members of staff — inconsistency is a warning sign.

The law does not remove the need for care, but it gives you the right to a precise answer. Knowing the 14 categories and the difference between packed and made-to-order food helps you ask the right questions and lowers the risk.