Natasha's Law & Allergen Labelling — What Changed and What You Must Do

In July 2016, 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Perouse died after eating a baguette from a Pret A Manger at Heathrow Airport. The baguette contained sesame seeds, to which she was severely allergic — but the packaging didn't list ingredients or allergens because, at the time, food prepared and sold on the same premises was exempt from full labelling requirements. Natasha's parents, Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Perouse, campaigned tirelessly for a change in the law.

The result was The UK Food Information Amendment 2019 — commonly known as Natasha's Law — which came into force on 1 October 2021. The law closes a critical gap: before Natasha's Law, food "prepacked for direct sale" (PPDS) didn't need a full ingredients list. After the law, all PPDS food must carry a label with the product name, full ingredients list, and the 14 allergens emphasised (usually in bold).

This is not a minor paperwork update — it fundamentally changed how thousands of food businesses label their products. Sandwiches, salads, cakes, pastries, and any other food made on-premises and packaged before a customer orders it now requires full ingredient disclosure on the packaging.

Understanding whether your food is PPDS is the first step to knowing whether Natasha's Law applies. PPDS food meets two criteria:

What's NOT PPDS: Food made to order (a sandwich assembled when the customer asks), food sold loose from a deli counter that the customer selects, distance selling (online orders for delivery), and food manufactured at one site and sold at another. These follow different labelling rules — but allergen information must still be available, either verbally (with clear signage directing customers to ask) or in writing.

UK law requires these 14 allergens to be declared whenever they're used as an ingredient. Under Natasha's Law, they must be emphasised on the label (typically in bold, but any visible emphasis is acceptable) so they stand out from other ingredients. Knowing the allergens is one thing — knowing where they hide in common ingredients is what separates compliant businesses from those who get caught out:

Critical note for PPDS labelling: You must list these allergens in the ingredients list with emphasis. A separate "Contains: milk, eggs" statement is not sufficient on its own under Natasha's Law — the allergens must appear within the full ingredients list, typically emphasised in bold, so a consumer can see that "whole milk" and "free-range egg" are present.

The scope of Natasha's Law is broader than many realise. If you sell PPDS food, you must comply — regardless of your size:

Complying with Natasha's Law requires a systematic approach. Here's the practical checklist:

Managing allergen information on spreadsheets and word-processed labels creates risk. A recipe change that introduces an allergen means updating multiple documents — and it only takes one missed update for a serious incident to occur. Digital allergen management systems link your recipes to your labels, so when you update an ingredient, every affected label updates automatically.

The Prevra app includes a built-in allergen matrix that cross-references every menu item against the 14 allergens. When you change a recipe, the matrix updates instantly. Labels can be printed directly from the app with compliant formatting — bold allergens, descending weight order, and all required information. And because everything is version-controlled and time-stamped, you have a complete audit trail to show the EHO.