Natasha's Law: what goes on the label, and when it applies

Natasha's Law is the name for the allergen labelling rules on food that is prepacked for direct sale, or PPDS. Since 1 October 2021, any food business in England, Wales or Northern Ireland that packs food on its own premises before a customer selects or orders it has to label that food with its name and a full ingredients list, with the 14 allergens emphasised. Before that date, the allergen information on these products could be given any way you liked, including by staff answering a question.

The rule catches more businesses than the sandwich chains it is usually associated with. A bakery with wrapped cakes on the counter, a butcher with packed burgers in the chiller, a café with pasta pots, a school kitchen and a care home can all be selling PPDS food. This guide explains how to tell, what the label needs, how an allergen matrix keeps the information right, and what the rules are for food that isn't packed at all.

What Natasha's Law requires, by type of food

The law sorts food into three groups. Each has its own allergen rule.

The question that decides it is simple: was the food in its packaging before the customer asked for it, and was it packed where it is sold? If both answers are yes, it is PPDS and it needs the label.

Is it PPDS? Examples by trade

The Food Standards Agency gives a list of examples. Set against everyday trades, it looks like this.

Free samples count too: cookies packed on site and handed out for free still need the label. If you are unsure, the Food Standards Agency has a free online decision tool for allergen and ingredients labelling that walks you through it.

PPDS labelling: what goes on the label

The label needs two things: the name of the food and the ingredients list, with the 14 allergens emphasised within it. Both have to follow the existing legal rules for naming food and listing ingredients, and you still comply with any other food information rules for the country you trade in.

The 14 allergens are cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats), crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios and macadamias), celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites above 10 mg per kg or litre, lupin and molluscs.

The Food Standards Agency also publishes a precautionary allergen labelling guide for 'may contain' statements. Those don't replace the ingredients list: an allergen that is an ingredient is declared as an ingredient.

Allergen matrix: keeping track of every dish

An allergen matrix is a grid with your dishes or products down one side and the 14 allergens across the top, with a mark where an allergen is present. The Food Standards Agency offers a one-page allergen matrix to download in English and Welsh, along with allergen ingredient templates.

The matrix is only as good as what feeds it. The FSA guidance says allergen ingredient information should be recorded in writing, on product specification sheets and in your recipes, and kept up to date, and you need to consider the impact whenever a recipe changes. In practice that means three habits.

• One sourceThe matrix, the labels and what staff tell customers come from the same recipe records, not from three separate lists.
• Supplier changes trigger a checkWhen a delivery arrives with a different brand, someone compares its label with the one on file.
• Dated versionsEach version of the matrix carries a date, so you can show what was true on the day.

On the stock side, a scan at delivery that books the batch and its specification onto the products that use it closes the gap between the back door and the label. Our page on inventory management software shows how that works.

Non-prepacked food: menus, buffets and the counter

Food that is sold loose or made after the order doesn't need a Natasha's Law label, but allergen information is still compulsory for every item. You can give it as full written information on a menu, chalkboard or in an information pack, or verbally, with a written notice in a clearly visible place explaining how customers can get it. The Food Standards Agency has a free allergy and intolerance sign for that, in English and Welsh. Its advice is that written information, supported by a conversation, works best.

At a buffet, the information is given for each item separately, not for the buffet as a whole. That can be a label on each dish, or a sign directing customers to staff. For caterers whose menu changes with every booking, the buffet cards are where mistakes happen; how a caterer keeps dietary needs per table on one sheet is on our page for caterers, with the same thinking for bakeries and butchers.

Selling online and for delivery

PPDS food sold by distance selling, online or by phone, doesn't need the PPDS label. The allergen information still has to reach the customer at two stages:

1. Before the purchase is completed, in writing on the website, catalogue or menu, or orally by phone.
2. When the food is delivered, in writing with allergen stickers or an enclosed menu, or orally.

The information should also be available to the customer in writing at some point between placing the order and taking delivery, and takeaway meals should be labelled clearly so customers know which dishes suit someone with an allergy. For a webshop, that means the allergens on every product page and on the packing slip. The broader rules for selling online are in our guide to ecommerce legal requirements, and the step before all of this is to register a food business.

Cross-contamination, free-from and vegan claims

The guidance gives a concrete example of cross-contamination: you can't cook gluten-free chips in oil that was used for battered fish. Clean utensils before each use, especially after preparing food with allergens.

A free-from claim is a guarantee that the food is suitable for everyone with that allergy or intolerance, which means strict control of ingredients, handling and preparation. Vegan is not the same as allergen-free: customers sometimes assume a vegan dish contains no egg, fish, crustaceans, molluscs or milk, but low-level cross-contamination can still happen, and you need to be clear about that risk.

Who enforces Natasha's Law

Local authorities enforce allergen rules. If you don't act on their advice, they can issue an improvement notice, and if you don't meet it, a penalty follows. You have 14 days from the date of the notice to appeal it. In some cases businesses face prosecution. Staff training is part of what an officer looks at: the Food Standards Agency offers free online food allergy training and an allergen checklist for staff.

How your website carries the allergens

Your website is where many customers with an allergy decide before they ever walk in. A menu as text rather than a photo, allergens per dish, and an order or booking form that asks for dietary needs and carries them to the kitchen make the difference. Our pages on restaurant websites and catering website design show how that looks, and AI in hospitality covers how AI can check an order against your recipes. Hotels that serve breakfast can collect allergies at booking; see hotels.

We build a website from 1,500 euros. A webshop or an ordering system linked to your recipes gets a fixed price per project after a conversation. Get in touch and show us your current menu and labels.

We haven't built a site for a UK bakery or caterer yet; we build them the same way as for our other clients, with the allergens starting in the recipe.