Food and drink manufacturers are very aware of the risk to certain consumers due to food hypersensitivities, which include food allergies, food intolerances, and coeliac disease.
The food industry therefore take the necessary steps to manage unintended allergen presence and control cross-contamination. When it comes to allergen risk communication, only after a thorough risk assessment, where there is a demonstrable risk of unintentional presence that cannot be removed through appropriate controls, should precautionary allergen labelling (e.g. 'may contain 'allergen') be used.
Food safety is always a top priority for our industry and to inform allergic consumers food allergen labelling is mandatory. Pre-packed food or drink that contains any of the 14 regulated food allergens used as ingredients or processing aids must be declared and emphasised within the ingredients list on a food label. There are different allergen labelling requirements for food sold loose (e.g. catering) or when sold pre-packed for direct sale (which is regulated via Natasha’s Law).
The FDF assists the UK food industry through its provision of a toolkit and technical guidance on allergen labelling and management (e.g. change management of allergen information, vegan claims; gluten labelling and free-from claims). We also support progress towards agreement of reference doses/thresholds to enable quantitative risk assessment for food allergen management.
For FDF members: Allergens Steering Group (ASG)
FDF Food Safety and Authenticity Report (members only) - March 2024
As one of the many FDF committees and groups available for members' only access, the FDF runs the Allergens Steering Group (ASG) which provides members with the latest updates on food hypersensitivity policy and the opportunity to influence our policy positions and workstreams.
A useful related piece of technical guidance is the FDF Guidance on 'Allergen'-Free and Vegan Claims. This UK best practice guidance aims to inform both the wider food industry and consumers as to the difference between 'allergen'-free claims (e.g. milk-free) and vegan claims. Each claim communicates to different consumer groups, with only the allergen absence claim being food safety information.
Campden BRI have published a free downloadable allergens e-book titled Managing Food Allergens. This is a useful resource that will help with the understanding food hypersensitivity, allergen cross-contact, food allergen labelling and the role of testing in food allergen management. It is known that majority of people can safely consume foods that cause adverse reactions in others, and for those with food hypersensitivities, and in particular food allergy, the risks can be life-threatening. The e-book provides an overview of topics that will help to aid the understanding of dealing with foods that cause food allergy reactions. These are:
The FREE Allergens eBook is also available via the FDF Allergens Toolkit page.
In June 2019, the FDF published an updated version its FDF Gluten Labelling Guidance (V2 - June 2019). This UK best practice guidance aims to provide advice to food business operators, irrespective of size, on how to label food products that include cereals containing gluten through review of the relevant EU and UK legislation and guidance; alongside the claims that can be made relating to the absence or reduced presence of gluten (e.g. gluten-free).
This best practice guidance has been produced to illustrate examples of the usual and more challenging labelling situations of foods made with cereals containing gluten. Special consideration is also given to oats and wheat species.
In November 2015, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and British Retail Consortium (BRC) jointly developed FDF/BRC Guidance on “Free-From” Allergen Claims. This best practice guidance provides regulatory advice to food manufacturers and caterers on the appropriate use of “free-from” claims in relation to food allergens. This guidance included a foreword from the Food Standards Agency and was supported by the Anaphylaxis Campaign and Coeliac UK.
Guidance
This FDF guidance aims to inform both the food industry and consumers as to the difference between 'allergen'-free claims and vegan claims. This information aims to dispel any misunderstanding that a vegan claim automatically means a food product is safe and suitable for an allergic consumer.
Guidance
This guidance outlines the actions a food business operator should consider when managing changes that impact the allergen labelling on pre-packaged products.
Guidance
This UK best practice guidance aims to provide advice to food business operators, irrespective of size, on how to label food products that include cereals containing gluten through review of the relevant EU and UK legislation and guidance.
New guidance to help food and drink businesses of all sizes understand the actions they should consider when managing changes that impact the allergen labelling on pre-packaged products has been published by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
The FDF has today published 'FDF Guidance on 'Allergen'-Free and Vegan Claims'.
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