Allergens
One of the most notable changes in current food information legislation for the out of home sector took
place on Friday 1stOctober 2021.
Natasha's Law, more formally known as Pre-Packed for Direct Sale requirements (PPDS) made it
mandatory for food businesses to label PPDS food with a full list of ingredients containing emphasised
allergens within, bringing the provision of allergen information in line with labelling for prepacked food.
What's in scope?
PPDS food is defined as food that is packed before being offered for sale by the same food business to
the final consumer[1].
PPDS food does not include food packed at a consumer's request, food not in packaging before being
offered for sale, food in packaging that can be altered without opening or changing the packaging, or
food sold over distance selling, such as takeaways ordered over the phone or online.
What does the label need to look like?
Labels will need to have a full ingredients declaration, in weight descending order, with the allergens
emphasised, this could be either CAPITALISED, in bold, in italics, or underlined. There are also
requirements on the font size of the label, amongst other requirements.
An example of how the label should be displayed is below:
Insert P32 What a label should look like
How to access allergen information from Bidfood
Allergen information on our products is found in the following:
Food packaging - Allergen information is found on the ingredients list as well as in 'may contain'
statements on packaging. Specifications - Product specifications list the ingredients as well as any
'may contain' statements. Allergen reports - These reports provide a breakdown of allergen
information per product and can include details on speciality diets (such as vegan). Website -
Information is held on each product on our online ordering system Bidfood Direct.
Customers can either contact their sales representative or the Advice Centre to receive allergen reports
or specifications.
How are we supporting customers with the provision of information?
We will continue to support our customers where we can, and ensure the data that we provide them is
sufficient to meet their requirements.
We have robust systems in place to validate product data that is shared from our suppliers - for more
information on this contact our Advice Centre about our data validation process We have engaged with
the Food Standards Agency about the changes in the legislation We have engaged with third parties,
such as menu planning systems, to ensure data management is robust We have developed a change
report to notify when there is a change in a product's information, including allergens, ingredients list
and nutritional information We have contacted suppliers about their responsibilities to provide accurate
allergen informationWhat we have done?
As a business, we worked hard to pull together a range of tools to help customers meet the
requirements of Natasha's Law ahead of it coming into effect in October 2021:
We partnered with UKHospitality to put together a two-part webinar series to offer advice and provide
clarity ahead of the legislation change. Both webinar 1 and webinar 2 proved to be incredibly successful
as they had over 1000 sign ups. We discussed all aspects of Natasha's Law in an episode of Talking
Food with Bidfood, including the challenges still ahead and the opportunities Making Sense of
Natasha's Law - a range of useful information, advice and examples on Natasha's Law to refer to, all in