Allergen information on restaurant menus

The 14 allergens in EU and UK rules

In the European Union, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers lists 14 allergens in its Annex II. Information about them has to be available for food that isn't prepacked as well, which includes what restaurants and cafés serve. Member states set some of the details, such as whether the information must be written down or can be given verbally when a guest asks, so the exact form varies between countries.

The 14 are:

1. Cereals containing gluten: wheat (including spelt and khorasan wheat), rye, barley, oats, and their hybrids
2. Crustaceans, such as prawns, crab and lobster
3. Eggs
4. Fish
5. Peanuts
6. Soybeans
7. Milk, including lactose
8. Nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios and macadamia nuts
9. Celery, including celeriac
10. Mustard
11. Sesame seeds
12. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre
13. Lupin
14. Molluscs, such as mussels, oysters, squid and snails

The UK kept the same 14 allergens after leaving the EU, and the Food Standards Agency publishes guidance for food businesses on how to provide the information. You may have heard of Natasha's Law, in force across the UK since October 2021. It requires a full ingredients list, with allergens emphasised, on food that is prepacked for direct sale: a sandwich made and wrapped on the premises before anyone orders it, for example. It doesn't change what goes on a sit-down menu, but it applies if you also sell grab-and-go food you pack yourself.

The US: nine major allergens

In the United States, the FDA recognises nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Sesame became the ninth on 1 January 2023, under the FASTER Act. These rules mainly govern labels on packaged food. Restaurants generally aren't federally required to list allergens on their menus, but some states and cities have their own rules, for example on staff training or menu notices. Your local health department is the place to ask.

The two lists don't match. Celery, mustard, lupin, molluscs and sulphites are on the EU list and not the US one, and where the EU says cereals containing gluten, the US list says wheat. If your guests come from many countries, the EU list is the broader of the two and a sensible one to work from, as long as you also meet the rules where you are.

Ways to show allergens on a menu

There are a few common approaches, and you can combine them:

• Per dish. List the allergens under each item, in words or with consistent symbols and a key. This is the most useful for guests and the most work to keep accurate.
• An allergen matrix. Dishes run down the side and the 14 allergens across the top. Many kitchens keep one anyway. It's a good reference for staff, but on a phone it's hard to read.
• A notice. A line on the menu asking guests to tell staff about allergies, backed by a written record staff can check. In some places that's enough legally, but it puts the whole weight on that conversation going well.

Whichever you choose, a few details make the difference:

• Use words, not only symbols. Symbols are quick to scan, but there's no standard set everyone knows, and a guest shouldn't have to guess whether a little tree means nuts or vegan.
• Name the specific nut or cereal when you can. "Contains walnuts and almonds" tells someone with a walnut allergy far more than "contains nuts".
• Don't spread "may contain" over everything. If every dish may contain every allergen, the warning stops meaning anything. Use it where there's a real cross-contact risk you can't control, such as a shared fryer.
• Keep vegan, gluten-free and allergen information apart. A vegan dish can still contain nuts, soy, sesame or mustard. "Gluten-free" is a claim with its own legal threshold in both the EU and the US (20 mg/kg, or 20 parts per million). If you can't guarantee it, say the dish is made without gluten-containing ingredients and be open about shared equipment.

Where it usually goes wrong

Most allergen mistakes don't start on the menu. They start in the kitchen, or somewhere between the kitchen and the menu.

• Recipe changes. The chef switches the pesto from pine nuts to cashews, or a new supplier's bread has sesame on it. The dish looks the same on the menu but its allergens have changed. Every recipe or supplier change should trigger a check of the allergen information.
• Hidden ingredients. Worcestershire sauce usually contains anchovies. Some Thai curry pastes contain shrimp paste. Dressings often contain mustard; stocks and spice mixes often contain celery. Wine, dried fruit and some vinegars contain sulphites.
• Specials and changes. The dish of the day chalked on a board often has no allergen information at all. The same goes for "can I have it without the sauce?".
• Cross-contact. A shared fryer, one chopping board for bread and everything else, nuts crushed on the same surface used to plate desserts.
• Translations. If the menu is in several languages, the allergen information has to be right in each of them. A machine translation that turns "celeriac" into something vague, or drops "may contain", can mislead a guest who can't read the original.

Keeping it accurate

The fix is unglamorous: one up-to-date record of the ingredients and allergens in each dish, one person responsible for it, and a check every time a recipe or supplier changes. The menu, the staff briefing and any allergen matrix should all come from that record. Note the date it was last checked.

Teach staff to say "let me check" instead of guessing, and to check the record or the chef rather than their memory. When a guest says they have a severe allergy, take it seriously every time, including on the busiest night of the week.

Finally, don't let the menu promise more than the kitchen can deliver. If you can't control cross-contact for a particular allergen, say so plainly. People with allergies would much rather know your limits than be told something reassuring that isn't true.