New regulations to help consumers identify food allergens mean the owners of cafés, restaurants, delis and stores have to think more carefully about how they label their food products from now on.

The new law - called the Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU FIC) – came into force in December 2014 and means allergen information has to be provided in “a clearer and more consistent way”. If you are producing dishes, snacks or takeaways, or selling loose foods without the packaging - and using any ingredients on the Food Standards Agency’s regulatory list, you will now have to emphasis it on your labels.

Allergens are foodstuffs that can cause an allergic reaction in some people. Those on the FSA list include fish and seafood, eggs, gluten, lupin found in flour and celery. Also included are mustard, nuts, soya and sesame seeds. A good guide can be found here.

This is obviously a comprehensive list containing many common ingredients, so it is likely that if you are in the business of preparing food you will be using at least some of the allergens mentioned.

While the law provides extra protection for consumers, these new obligations could become an additional headache for café and shop owners who are already busy running a business, especially those that update their products regularly.

The FSA says businesses can choose what method they want to use to emphasise these allergens, for example, by listing them in bold, italics, highlighted or underlined, to help identify them. All the information also has to be located in a single place on the packaging. By setting up your labels ahead of time with Promaxx you can be sure you have complied with the requirements and have peace of mind.

The Promaxx range of printable retail and point of sale labels are a simple and versatile way to comply with the new regulations. If you have a number of set recipes that contain allergens, simply prepare a template that you can edit as required and print as you need them.

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