Recent FSA research shows that diners feel safest when allergen details are clearly available in writing and backed up by a conversation with staff. Anything less leaves people questioning whether the kitchen truly has its facts straight. The 2025 FSA Best Practice Guidance now treats a written source – whether a menu, matrix, label, or screen – as the foundation for trust, with the conversation acting as a safety-check.
Legal requirement vs best practice
Current UK legal minimum: You must be able to tell customers if any of the 14 regulated allergens are in a dish. You can do this “by any means” – verbally or in writing – as long as there’s a sign clearly explaining how customers can access the information.
2025 best practice: Make full allergen information available in writing up front and invite a conversation every time. This moves you from compliant to genuinely credible in the eyes of your customers.
When Owen’s Law lands, written information on allergens will move from “best practice” to “legal requirement” for eat-in and takeaway – so adopting best practice now helps future-proof your business.
Key principals for written information
The FSA spells out four qualities that written allergen information should meet:
Easy to use – guests should be able to spot safe dishes in seconds
Clear – allergens are unmistakable (no fine print or obscure symbols)
Comprehensive – all 14 allergens must be covered
Accurate – information must be updated whenever ingredients change
Below we dive into three common formats food businesses use to present written allergen information, along with their practical benefits and drawbacks.
1. FSA spreadsheet matrix
The Food Standards Agency offers a free spreadsheet template where dishes run down the left-hand column and the 14 regulated allergens line up across the top; you simply tick a box when an allergen is present. It’s fast, costs nothing, and can be printed, laminated, or shown on a tablet – perfect for stalls, pop-ups, or tight-budget kitchens that need a reliable staff reference.
The trade-off is visibility and depth of detail. Because the grid is normally handwritten, it gets messy and outdated quickly, so very few operators upload a copy online. Guests can’t check it before they arrive, and even on site they must ask for it – assuming staff are willing to hand it over. In many venues it’s kept “back of house” because managers worry customers will find the grid too confusing.
Even when the matrix is produced on demand, it rarely mirrors the wording or layout of the printed menu. Diners end up juggling two documents – main menu in one hand, grid in the other – to work out if a dish is safe. It ignores dietary markers like vegan or vegetarian, leaves no room to specify which ingredient triggers the allergen (parmesan in the risotto, for example), and can’t show if a simple tweak would make the dish safe.
Bottom line, the matrix is a solid back-of-house reference, but on its own it seldom gives customers enough information – or confidence – to make an informed choice.
2. Included on the main menu
Placing allergen details directly on the menu – whether as a full “Contains: Fish, Soya” line, a row of icons, short codes, or a numbering system with a legend – meets the FSA’s best-practice advice to put information “where the customer is already looking”. It also future-proofs your business for Owen’s Law, which is expected to make on-menu disclosure compulsory for eat-in and takeaway food.
Where it shines: Customers get the critical information instantly, without having to ask or cross-reference another sheet, so confidence shoots up and the ordering conversation is smoother.
The trade-offs:
Lack of space: Writing allergens in full is crystal-clear, but it can quickly crowd a tightly designed menu. Icons help only to a point – the FSA says they must be at least 0.6 cm × 0.6 cm for readability. Numbers or short codes reclaim space, but require a legend and forces guests to do the mental gymnastics of decoding the menu one allergen and dish at a time. From experience, it's easy to lose track and misjudge the risks at the kitchen level
Lack of clarity: Icons and numbers show which allergen is present but not which form: “Tree Nuts” could be almond or walnut, “Gluten” might be wheat or barley. They also don’t indicate whether the allergen is “contains,” “may contain,” or a cross-contamination risk – leaving diners without the context they need to decide safely
Reprint costs: Every ingredient tweak forces a reprint or PDF refresh across paper, and website versions. For venues that change menus frequently, that’s both expensive and time-consuming
In short, on-menu labelling improves transparency for customers, but you’ll need a solid version-control process, a method for delivering fuller details, and a layout that balances accessibility with brand aesthetics.
3. Interactive digital menu with allergen & diet filters
A digital menu lets guests filter by allergens and diets, instantly flagging any dishes that aren’t safe. Embed it on your website, drop a QR code on printed menus, or share it on social so diners can explore options long before they arrive. That single shift delivers four standout benefits:
Pre-visit clarity: Diners walk through the door already confident about what they can eat and where the risks lie, which eliminates the "back and forth" and frees staff to focus on hospitality rather than scrambling for answers
Live accuracy: Swap a supplier, tweak a garnish, or pull a dish mid-service, and the change appears everywhere in seconds – no reprints, no conflicting PDFs
Modification transparency: Each dish can carry notes like “Ask for sweet chilli sauce instead of wasabi mayo" so guests know exactly what can – or can’t – be adapted. Expectations are crystal-clear and awkward refusals disappear
Distance-selling compliance built-in: The same live menu powers click-&-collect, phone orders, and third-party apps, keeping written allergen information visible before checkout and at home – precisely what the FSA guidance recommends
Behind the scenes you also gain:
Operational calm: Because the answers are already baked into a single, real-time menu, staff aren’t forced to “work it out” every time an allergy question pops up. No on-the-fly guesswork means fewer slip-ups and a smoother service for everyone
Actionable insights. Filter analytics show which allergens or diets matter most to guests – valuable input for menu planning
Lower waste. No constant reprints means a greener footprint and lower costs
For venues that frequently refresh their menus or juggle eat-in, takeaway, and delivery – digital is the simplest path to accuracy and customer confidence.
At Edible, we know that most digital allergen tools cater to big chains and come with hefty price tags and steep learning curves. So we built a digital allergen menu builder that's affordable, intuitive, and delivers the same polished experience as big brands.
Voluntary info, "may contain" and “free from” claims
While the law focuses on the priority allergens, many people react to other ingredients too. The FSA encourages businesses to keep track of all ingredients – not just the legal 14. If a diner asks, you should be able to check the recipe (or supplier spec) and give a clear answer in the same way you would for milk or peanuts. If you can’t provide accurate info about a less common allergen, you’re required to say so, and allow the customer to make their own informed choice.
Then there’s precautionary allergen labelling (PAL), commonly known as a “may contain” warning. Use this only when a written risk assessment shows cross-contact can’t be ruled out. Blanket PAL across half the menu isn’t best practice; it just shifts the risk back to the diner without offering real insight.
“Free-from” claims are stricter still. “Gluten-free” means <20 ppm gluten; whereas “peanut-free” or “dairy-free” is an absolute guarantee of zero. That means dedicated utensils, segregated storage, documented cleaning routines, and – if you outsource anything – supplier certificates to match. The guidance urges operators to think carefully before making such claims, because the legal expectation is total absence, not “low risk”.
Final thoughts
Providing written allergen information isn’t just about ticking a legal box – it’s about creating a dining experience that feels safe, respectful, and welcoming for everyone. Whether you’re a small café or a growing restaurant group, getting this right builds trust with your customers and protects your team.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but the key is to choose a system that’s easy to keep accurate, simple for guests to use, and clear about what can and can’t be modified. And if you're ready to take the guesswork out of allergen communication, we’d love to help.
Edible was built for exactly this. It’s a tool designed to make best practice easy – no matter your size, budget, or menu complexity.
Book a free demo to see how it works, or drop us a line if you’d like help reviewing your current setup.