Following the tragic death of a teenager who died after suffering an allergic reaction to a Pret a Manger baguette, Environment Secretary Michael Gove confirmed legislation would be brought forward by the end of summer 2021 to strengthen labelling of allergens on pre-packaged food.
To give food businesses like yourselves enough time to adhere to these new laws and regulations, you need to be aware of the following changes. In this article, we summarise the key pointers you need to know about Natasha’s law.
What’s the current law on food allergies?
A food allergy is when the body’s immune system reacts to specific foods. This can range from mild reactions such as an itchy rash to severe reactions called anaphylaxis.
For food businesses, you need to tell your customers if any food you’re selling contains any of the main 14 allergens:
The food standards agency advise that the 14 allergens are:
- “Celery
- Cereals containing gluten – including wheat (such as spelt and Khorasan), rye, barley and oats
- Crustaceans – such as prawns, crabs and lobsters
- Eggs
- Fish
- Lupin
- Milk
- Molluscs – such as mussels and oysters
- Mustard
- Tree nuts – including almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts
- Peanuts
- Sesame seeds
- Soybeans
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (if they are at a concentration of more than ten parts per million)”
Pre-packaged food that’s made directly for sale have to comply with a few different rules. The government emphasised that pre-packaged food must have an ingredients list and allergenic ingredients need to be highlighted in “some way” if they’re in the ingredients. These rules currently count to pre-packed food made for direct sale, like baguettes and sandwiches.
So what will businesses need to change with the new law?
Natasha’s law for food businesses
There are over 2 million food allergy sufferers in the UK and steps need to be taken to give them the confidence when purchasing food. Currently, pre-packed food made on the premises isn’t required to display the full allergen information in writing. You may have noticed on blackboards or menus that some foods contain “insert allergen here”.
Unfortunately, allergy sufferers make do with guesswork and demanding allergen information to make an informed consumer decision. With Natasha’s law, this changes that. Food businesses will have to state the full list of ingredients on all pre-packed food made directly for sale.
The law comes into effect next year, summer 2020, which should give food businesses enough time to implement the new changes. With help from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) businesses all across the UK will be able to fit in with the latest changes, helping to cater to all customers alike, making the UK a safe place to eat and bettering business /customer decisions.
Keeping your premises clean
At Direct365, we offer a thorough and in-depth service for commercial kitchens. To improve hygiene and minimise fire risks, we can clean away all the grease culminated from the ducts, filters and fans of your commercial kitchens. Our reactive service means you can get a deep clean arranged quickly at a time that best suits you.
Find out more about our commercial kitchen cleaning service.
Are you dealing with insects coming in and disrupting the health of your business? With our expert pest control service, our expert prevention service will put your mind at ease so your food will stay fresh and better for longer, without the consequence of throwing out food contaminated by nasty pests.
Find out more about our pest control service.
A business is only as good as its premises, so it’s a vital component to have everything working and in good working order. While you prepare to start implementing a full ingredients list for everything you sell on-site, we can take the hassle out of the cleaning and upkeep for you.
Find out more about our facilities and business services.
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