Allergen & kcal information: a practical guide for UK hospitality

This page is a practical overview, not legal advice. It's designed to help hospitality teams understand what needs to be shown to guests - and how AllerEasy can support that.

The 14 major allergens

UK and EU regulations require you to declare the presence of 14 specified allergens when used as ingredients in food and drink.

  1. Celery
  2. Cereals containing gluten (e.g. wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt)
  3. Crustaceans (e.g. prawns, crab, lobster)
  4. Eggs
  5. Fish
  6. Lupin
  7. Milk
  8. Molluscs (e.g. mussels, oysters, squid)
  9. Mustard
  10. Peanuts
  11. Sesame
  12. Soya (soybeans)
  13. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at >10mg/kg or 10mg/litre
  14. Tree nuts (e.g. almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews)

AllerEasy is built around this list, so each dish can clearly show which of these allergens are present.

Digital menus and Natasha's Law

Natasha's Law focuses on prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) foods, requiring full ingredient and allergen labelling on packaging. For restaurants, cafés and other non-PPDS settings, you still need to provide allergen information clearly and reliably - which is where digital menus can help.

  • Digital menus make it easier to keep allergen information up-to-date than printed folders alone.
  • Guests can filter dishes themselves, but staff remain responsible for checking any complex cases.
  • AllerEasy is designed to support your allergen process, not replace it.

Kcals and nutrition labelling

Larger operators may be required to display kcal information on menus. Even where it's not mandatory, many venues choose to show kcals and basic nutrition to support guest wellbeing.

  • AllerEasy lets you store and display kcals per dish.
  • You can optionally include other fields like carbs to help diabetic guests.
  • Changes to recipes only need to be updated once in the admin, then they flow through to the guest view.

How AllerEasy fits into your allergen process

AllerEasy does not replace your legal responsibilities or your allergen checks - it simply makes it easier to show guests accurate information.

  • Your allergen spreadsheet or system remains your single source of truth.
  • AllerEasy converts that data into a clear, filterable digital menu.
  • Staff can still double-check complex queries with the kitchen or allergen matrix as needed.