The 14 allergens list (UK): where they hide, what the law says, and a free poster

UK food law names 14 allergens that food businesses must declare. If you run a pub, restaurant, café or hotel, you need to know which of them are in every dish and drink you serve, tell customers when they ask, and train your team to get it right. Below is the list, where each one tends to hide on a hospitality menu, a free poster for the staff room, and what the law actually asks of you.

The 14 allergens at a glance

Download the 14 allergens poster (PDF, A4), or print the table below. Use the button or press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac): only the table prints.

The list comes from Annex II of the food information regulation (EU 1169/2011, kept in UK law), and the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland use the same 14. A few details catch people out:

• Gluten means the cereal, not just flour. Wheat (including spelt and khorasan), rye, barley and oats all count, so do products made from them, like beer and malt vinegar. The law makes some exceptions, such as wheat-based glucose syrups and cereals used to make distilled spirits.
• "Nuts" means eight tree nuts. Almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios and macadamias. Peanuts are a separate allergen. Pine nuts and coconut aren't on the list.
• Sulphites have a threshold. They only have to be declared above 10 mg per kilo or per litre (10 parts per million), which is why you check the label rather than guess.
• Milk includes lactose. The entry covers milk and products made from it, so a lactose-free milk product is still a milk product.

Where each allergen hides on a pub or café menu

The poster tells you what the 14 are. The real risk is where they turn up without anyone thinking about it.

Stocks, sauces and gravy

A pub gravy can carry four allergens on its own: celery from the stock, gluten from the flour, sulphites from the wine and milk from the butter used to finish it. Bought-in stock cubes, bouillon and sauce bases bring their own lists. Dressings and mayonnaise often contain mustard and eggs, and Caesar dressing and Worcestershire sauce contain fish.

The fryer

Allergens move through cooking oil. The FSA lists using the same cooking oil as one way cross-contamination happens. If battered fish and chips share a fryer, the chips may carry fish, gluten and egg. Tell customers, or keep a separate fryer if you want to offer them safely.

The bar

Drinks are on the hook too. Beer is brewed from barley, so it contains a cereal with gluten. Wine, cider and some beers contain sulphites. Cream liqueurs contain milk. Sours and some cocktails use egg white, and a Bloody Mary brings celery salt and Worcestershire sauce (fish). Bar snacks add peanuts, tree nuts, sesame and gluten.

Desserts and bakery

Frangipane and marzipan are almonds. Praline is usually hazelnut. Meringue, custard, mousse and most sponges contain egg, and nearly every dessert has milk. Brioche buns often carry milk and egg, and burger buns may be topped with sesame.

Vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free swaps

Swapping one ingredient for another can swap one allergen for another. Oat milk is an oat product, so it comes from a cereal that's on the list. Soya milk, tofu and many meat alternatives contain soya, and some meat alternatives are made from wheat gluten. Vegan cheese is often made from cashews. Some gluten-free breads and pastas use lupin flour. Check the label of every swap, not just the original.

Garnishes and finishing touches

The last thing added to a plate is the easiest to forget: toasted nuts on a salad, sesame seeds on a stir-fry, a drizzle of pesto, a mustard glaze, a dusting of cheese. Write garnishes into the recipe so they're on your allergen record.

What the law requires you to tell customers

The rules depend on how the food is sold.

Food that isn't prepacked (most pub, restaurant and café food)

If you plate it up, serve it over the counter or pour it, the FSA says you must supply allergen information for every item that contains any of the 14 allergens. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland you can do that in writing (on the menu, a chalkboard or in an information pack) or verbally, as long as there's a written notice, in a clearly visible place, telling customers how to get the information. In Scotland, Food Standards Scotland says the information must be available before purchase, and can be on a menu, chalkboard or shelf label, or given verbally by a member of staff.

"May contain traces" on everything doesn't meet this. You need to know what is in each dish.

Best practice for England, Wales and Northern Ireland

In February 2025 the FSA published best practice guidance for non-prepacked food. It isn't law, and you're not required to follow it, but it shows what good looks like:

• Allergen information should be easily available in writing, and supported by a conversation with staff.
• Written information should be available, if possible, without customers having to ask: on the menu, in an allergen booklet, or in a matrix on a wall customers can see.
• If you give the information digitally (for example through a QR code), have another way for customers to get it.
• Staff should be trained on allergens and food hypersensitivity.

A matrix is the simplest way to put the information in writing. Our allergen matrix template explains how to build one, and the printable allergen matrix gives you a blank grid.

Scotland: a consultation to watch

Food Standards Scotland ran a public consultation from 23 February to 17 May 2026 on how allergen and ingredient information is given for non-prepacked food in restaurants, cafés, takeaways, bakeries and butchers, including whether written information should be strengthened. If you trade in Scotland, check the FSS website for the outcome before you redesign your menus.

Food prepacked for direct sale (Natasha's Law)

Since 1 October 2021, across the whole UK, food that's packed before the customer orders it and sold on the same premises (prepacked for direct sale, or PPDS) must carry a label with the name of the food and a full ingredients list, with the 14 allergens emphasised, for example in bold. In a pub or café that covers prepacked sandwiches and salad boxes, pies in packaging, soup already in pots, and paninis or pizzas boxed ahead to be heated on request. Food made to order, or wrapped at the customer's request, isn't PPDS. Our guide to Natasha's Law covers labels in detail.

Takeaway, phone and online orders

For food sold at a distance, the FSA says allergen information must be provided at two stages: before the purchase is completed and when the food is delivered.

Keeping your allergen information accurate

The FSA says you need to know what's in your food, ideally recorded in writing on recipes, product specification sheets and ingredient labels, and to keep it up to date when recipes change. In practice the dangerous moments are predictable:

• A supplier substitution. The wholesaler sends a different brand of stock, sauce or bread. Check the label before it goes into service.
• A recipe tweak or new special. Update the matrix the same day, not at the next menu change.
• Cross-contamination. The FSA's examples include cleaning utensils between uses, washing hands between preparing dishes with and without certain allergens, and shared cooking oil. If you can't avoid cross-contamination, tell customers you can't provide an allergen-free dish.

Training front-of-house staff

The FSA says food businesses must make sure staff receive training on allergens, and offers free online food allergy training. Whatever course you use, front-of-house staff need to be able to do five things:

1. Name the 14 allergens, and know that "nuts" and "gluten" each cover several foods.
2. Find the allergen information for any dish or drink, quickly, from the floor.
3. Take an allergy seriously: write it on the order and tell the kitchen, every time.
4. Never guess. "Let me check with the kitchen" is always the right answer when they're unsure.
5. Know what to say if the kitchen can't make a dish safely.

Run it at induction, before a new starter serves customers, and brief the team whenever the menu changes. Our guide to food hygiene training covers the rest of the training records an EHO may ask to see.

Keep allergen information on every phone

Paper posters and printed matrices go out of date the moment a recipe changes. ShiftComplete keeps your allergen information in one place: every menu item is mapped to the 14 UK allergens and grouped by course, and front-of-house staff can search it from their phone on the floor instead of walking to the pass. Only managers can edit it, so a change goes in once and everyone sees the current version.

It sits alongside your rotas, temperature logs and opening and closing checklists, and costs £1.49 per staff member per month with every feature included. The first 60 days are free, with no card needed. The information itself is still your responsibility, so check it every time a recipe or supplier changes. See allergen software for restaurants for how it works.