Allergen labelling for small UK food businesses: Natasha's Law explained

If you sell pre-packed food direct to customers, in the UK, allergen labelling isn't optional. Since October 2021, Natasha's Law requires full ingredient lists with allergens emphasised, on anything you pre-pack for sale (PPDS). Get it wrong and you're not just risking a fine, you're risking someone's life.

What counts as PPDS

If you pack the food before the customer orders it, and it's in the same premises it's sold from, it's PPDS. A batch of flapjacks wrapped and sitting in a display case counts. A cake made to order and handed over unwrapped generally doesn't, but check the specifics for your setup. And even if it doesn't need a label, it's your responsibility to know what allergens are present in your food when asked.

The 14 allergens, every time

Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, nuts, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphites. Every ingredient list needs these called out, usually in bold, whenever they're present.

Ingredients listed by weight, always

Your ingredient list has to be in descending order of weight, not the order you happen to think of them. Plain Flour before Sugar if there's more flour than sugar in the recipe, no exceptions.

The bit that trips people up

Composite ingredients need their own sub-list. If your recipe includes a shop-bought puff pastry, the label needs to break down what's in the pastry too, not just say "puff pastry" and move on.

Getting this right by hand, recipe by recipe, is exactly the kind of thing that eats an evening. It's also exactly the kind of thing that shouldn't be rushed. MakrPrep can help you stay on top of all this admin.