PREVRA Consumer Advisory Guide: Writing Allergen Warnings That Protect Customers and Your Business
How to place effective allergen advisories on menus, boards, and online ordering platforms. Covers Natasha's Law requirements, the 14 regulated allergens, and EHO expectations for consumer information.
Why consumer advisories matter for allergen safety and legal compliance
Under the UK Food Information Regulations, you must provide allergen information for all food sold, including loose food served in restaurants, cafes, and takeaways. From 2022, Natasha's Law extended this to food prepacked for direct sale, requiring full ingredient lists with allergens emphasised. A missing or vague consumer advisory is not just a compliance gap — it can kill.
Counter-intuitively, a blanket statement like 'all our dishes may contain nuts' does not protect you legally and may give customers a false sense that you have assessed the specific risk. Courts and coroners expect specific, dish-level allergen information. Generic disclaimers are viewed as an admission that you have not done the work.
Writing effective consumer advisories for your menus
Your advisory should appear on every menu, chalkboard, and digital ordering interface. It must direct customers to ask staff for allergen information and explain where that information lives — usually an allergen matrix or recipe file. If you use a digital ordering system, allergen filters should be built in so customers can exclude dishes containing their specific allergen.
Train every front-of-house team member to use the 'ask, check, confirm' model: ask the customer about allergies, check the allergen matrix, confirm with the kitchen before serving. Digital SFBB keeps your allergen matrix updated as recipes change and makes it accessible from any device during service.
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