Food Information Regulations 2014

• Implements European legislation ‘Food Information for Consumers Regulations’
• Brought about changes to pre-packed food labelling (Natashas law)
• Requires allergens to be declared on all non-pre-packed and catering food
• Criminal offence to not do so – Penalty of up to £5000 fine

FSA Guidance: Food Information Regulations

Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013

• Criminal offence to place unsafe food on the market
• Food may be deemed unsafe if it is provided containing an allergen, when the consumer has specifically requested it to be allergen free
• Maximum penalty – unlimited fine and up to 2 years imprisonment

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974

• Employers/Self-employed people have a duty of care for their employees and other people to ensure that their health and safety isn’t compromised.
• Criminal offence to contravene this duty of care.
• Penalty – unlimited fine or up to 2 years imprisonment.

Prosecutions for allergy breaches:

• Hipping Hall, Lancaster, ordered to pay more than £23,000 in fines and costs following severe allergic reaction of wedding guest
• Takeaway owner handed community service and £5,000 fine after customers allergic reaction 
• Trading Standards prosecute restaurant after customer suffers severe peanut allergy
• Restaurant owner jailed for six years over death of peanut allergy customer

• Cereals containing gluten, such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut and their hybridised strains 
• Peanuts (also called groundnuts)
• Nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios, macadamias and Queensland nuts.
• Fish
• Crustaceans (includes crabs, lobsters, shrimps and prawns)
• Molluscs (includes mussels, cockles, oysters, scallops, squid and octopus)
• Sesame seeds
• Eggs
• Milk and milk products (including lactose)
• Soy beans
• Celery
• Lupin
• Mustard
• Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at levels above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre expressed as SO₂

There is no legal requirement for a business to provide allergen free food but information about the allergens contained in your dishes must still be available for customers who ask for it.

Food Businesses must think about the allergens handled within their business, the risk of cross contamination and whether food can be prepared safety considering the size and nature of the business.

Have you completed your Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) Safer method for food allergies?

Don't forget that drinks may also contain a food allergy!

Beverages can typically contain: egg protein, gluten (barley, hops & rye) & seafood proteins! Energy drinks and tea's can also contain histamines, which lowers the body's response to allergy, thus enabling a more serious allergic reaction in some people.

Alcohol also may contain traces of food allergens.  It’s always a good idea to check the labels before drinking.  For example, some wines and champagne contain cow’s milk, egg or fish.  Similarly, beer and lager can contain wheat, barley, fish or fruit whilst spirits can also contain allergens such as fruits, seeds and nuts.  In addition, cocktails can also be cross-contaminated by other drink ingredients.  Most alcoholic drinks contain sulphites.

Food that is packed before it is offered for sale by the same food business to the final consumer either on the same premises or on the same site (such as a large shopping complex) or on other premises if the food offered for sale form a moveable and/or temporary premises (such as a marquee, market stall or mobile sales vehicle) if the food is offered for sale by the same business that packed it.

If you produce a product which is wrapped, where the contents of the product cannot be altered without opening the packing, this is pre-packed for direct sale. Examples of this are as follows.

• A sandwich which is packaged by the food business and sold or offered by the same premises.
• A bacon bun which is held in a bag with the ends rolled up cooked and offered for sale by the same business.
• A bag of prawn crackers which is pre prepared ready for takeaway orders (Cooked and packed by the same business)
• Supermarket products (produced and packaged in store) such as pizzas, rotisserie chicken, reweighed and packed cheese.
• Bakery items pre-packaged before the customer selects them.

In Wales, England, and Northern Ireland, any food business that produces pre-packed for direct sale (PPDS) food is required to label it with the name of the food and a full ingredients list. Allergenic

ingredients must be emphasised within this list.

These labelling requirements, also known as Natasha's Law, help protect consumers by providing potentially life-saving allergen information on the packaging.

This can include food that consumers select themselves, for example from a display unit, as well as products kept behind a counter, or some food sold at mobile or temporary outlets.

Excemption

If the largest surface area of the packaging is less than 10 centimetres squared (10cm²) you do not have to produce a PPDS label with all ingredients and the allergens emphasised. If you do not produce a full label you must still make the ingredients information available in some form (for example verbally or in writing that is not on the packaging). We would recommend including the information on the allergy ,matrix that you've completed for other menus items.

More information:

• Allergen labelling changes for PPDS foods
• Allergen and ingredients food labelling tool
• Introduction to allergen labelling changes (PPDS)

Sector specific guidance

• PPDS allergen labelling changes for bakers
• PPDS allergen labelling changes for butchers
• PPDS allergen labelling changes for mobile sellers and street vendors
• PPDS allergen labelling changes for event caterers
• PPDS allergen labelling changes for fast food and takeaway restaurants
• PPDS allergen labelling changes for schools, colleges and nurseries
• PPDS allergen labelling changes for restaurants, cafés and pubs

Making free-from claims for foods requires strict controls of ingredients, how they are handled and how they are prepared. A free-from claim is a guarantee that the food is suitable for all with an allergy or intolerance. For example, if you are handling wheat flour in a kitchen and you cannot remove the risk of cross-contamination through segregation by time and space, you should let the customer know. You should not make any gluten-free or wheat-free claims.

The Food and Drink Federation provides specific information and guidance on free-from and gluten-free claims.

Customers sometimes assume that vegan meals are free-from animal based allergens (egg, fish, crustaceans, molluscs, milk). This is not always the case as low-level cross-contamination from these ingredients can occur during the production process. You need to be clear about this risk in the food you provide.

The Food and Drink Federation provides specific information and guidance on allergen-free and vegan claims.

The Food team monitor and check compliance in a number of ways;.

• As part of an unannounced food hygiene inspection;

  

   

• By informal sampling looking for the presence of a specific allergen;
• By unannounced allergen audits to check whether the business has robust systems in place;
• By unannounced swabbing, checking for the presence of a specific allergen.
• Through pre-arranged full allergen audits, these help a business to ensure they have robust food safety systems in place for allergens. 

Lancaster City Council’s Food officers also undertaken specific allergy audits within food businesses. We follow the route from the initial customer purchase through to the finished meal, identifying where unidentified allergens may enter the meal and then provide businesses with a report detailing what improvements must be made to improve their systems and keep your customers safe. If there is a sever risk that customers with allergies will be served, then we may serve a 'Stop agreement'.

If you would like to book an allergy audit for your business contact us via e-mail: environmentalhealth@lancaster.gov.uk 

Lancaster City Council Food officers undertake sampling programs and food allergen audits to ensure that businesses have robust systems in place to protect customers from food allergens.

We may agree with the business that we need to put a STOP agreement into place to protect the consumer when;

• businesses don’t have adequate systems in place; or
• where there is a high potential for contamination; or
• where a business has provided food containing an allergen which wasn’t asked for

This is not a legally binding Notice but will encourage the business to look at their systems and training to ensure customers with food allergies, intolerances or coeliac disease can purchase food which is safe to eat.

If a business with a Stop agreement in place serves a customer who has an allergic food reaction, then the fact the business ignored the Stop agreement will be considered a strong aggravating factor and it is very likely the business will face formal action.

Face to Face Allergen Training 

We offer a bespoke training experience for the Level 2 Allergen Awareness and control in Catering. The course consists of a minimum of 6 hours tuition followed by a short 20 question quiz. This course is currently being offered in conjunction with Lancaster & Morecambe College and is free!

By the end of the course, you will be in a much better position of understanding allergens, enabling you to put robust systems and procedures in place to provide allergen free food which is safe to eat. This course is usually held at Lancaster town hall but maybe subject to change. During the course there will be practical demonstrations in the kitchen as well as class room based work.

Why face to face?

• The course is led by an experience food safety officer.
• The course is interesting and informative using practical examples, videos, and demonstrations and games.
• You can ask pertinent questions about your own business situation.
• You can learn from other businesses.
• Upon passing your test you will receive a hard copy of your certificate.

Visit our Food safety training pages for more information.

There are other providers that offer on-line and face to face traning, these can be found using a search engine such as google.

Allergen matrix

LCC Allergen Matrix (DOCX, 598KB)

Allergen recipe sheet

Allergen recipe sheet (PDF, 1.6MB)

Allergen signposting

Allergen and intolerance sign (PDF, 90KB)

14 allergens poster

14 allergens label (PDF, 217KB)

Allergen checklist

Allergen checklist for food businesses (DOCX, 389KB)

Video Resources

• A day in the life of Chloe
• Megan Lee story
• Speak up for Food Allergies