Food labelling rules ensure that all consumers are given comprehensive ingredient listing information and make it easier for people with food allergies to identify ingredients they need to avoid.
However, from 13 December 2014 the rules with regard to allergy labelling will change.
The new regulation, will build on current allergen labelling provisions for pre-packed foods and will introduce a new requirement for allergen information to be provided for foods sold non-packed or pre-packed for direct sale.
This will affect restaurants, bistro’s, pubs, coffee shops, café’s, fast food, retails stores with cafes, welfare catering such as schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, residential care homes and event catering such as festivals etc.
With the new food law, all food service organisations serving unpackaged food or food that is packaged on site for immediate consumption, will have to supply details of the menu items that contain the top 14 allergens within the dishes they serve.
Details of the 14 allergens will have to be listed clearly in an obvious place such as a menu, chalkboard, information pack (Each dish on the menu requires a breakdown of allergens).
Here they are:
- cereals containing gluten
- crustaceans, for example prawns, crabs, lobster and crayfish
- eggs
- fish
- peanuts
- soybeans
- milk
- nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio, cashew and
- macadamia (Queensland) nuts
- celery (and celeriac)
- mustard
- sesame
- sulphur dioxide, which is a preservative found in some dried fruit
- lupin
- molluscs, for example clams, mussels, whelks, oysters, snails and squid
For further information and advice – click here
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