All food businesses should be aware of allergens and they have a legal responsibility to:
- provide safe food
- manage food safety risks including those from allergens
- make sure foods are accurately labelled
- make sure any allergen-free claims are accurate.
If someone with a food allergy asks you if a dish contains certain ingredients which they may be allergic to, you must never guess the answer. Remember, you don’t have to provide someone with an allergen-free meal but if you mislead someone with a food allergy into thinking that a dish doesn’t contain a certain allergen then the consequences could be very serious.
Many businesses perceive that if the allergen isn’t included in the recipe, then the food should be safe. However, if an allergen is used or stored on your premises, this can contaminate the allergen-free food unless control measures are in place.
If you do decide to provide an allergen-free meal, you must be able to guarantee that:
- no allergens have been used as ingredients in the meal
- no allergens have been used as a garnish or cooking medium, for example, in oils
- any risk of cross-contamination with allergens has been eliminated
The Environmental Health Officers help businesses to understand and meet legal requirements and monitor compliance and take action where necessary to correct non-compliance.
We look at claims made during inspections and if an allergen-free food is offered we’ll investigate how this food is made to make sure that it’s free from allergens. This can involve an examination of the recipe and manufacturing process as well as sampling of the food to find out if allergens are present.
