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Food Allergen Training: What the Law Expects, the 14 Allergens Staff Must Know, and How to Train a Team

Food allergen training is not a certificate you file away; it is how a business stops a customer from being taken to hospital. UK law requires food businesses to give accurate information about 14 named allergens, and to train staff in food hygiene in a way that matches their work. Allergen awareness is a core part of that duty. This page sets out what the law requires, what the Food Standards Agency (FSA) now recommends, and what good training covers for kitchen staff, servers and managers.

What the law actually requires

Three pieces of law shape allergen training in the UK:

• The Food Information Regulations 2014 (and retained Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011) require businesses to give customers information about 14 allergens when they are used as ingredients, whether the food is prepacked, prepacked for direct sale or sold loose.
• Food hygiene law (retained Regulation (EC) No 852/2004) requires food business operators to make sure food handlers are supervised and instructed or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity. Allergen control is part of food safety, so staff who prepare or serve food need it.
• Natasha’s Law, in force since 1 October 2021 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with equivalent rules in Scotland, requires food that is prepacked for direct sale (PPDS), such as sandwiches made and wrapped on the premises, to carry a full ingredients list with allergens emphasised. It is named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after an allergic reaction to a baguette with no allergen labelling.

The law does not name a specific course or certificate. What enforcement officers look for is whether the business’s information is accurate and whether staff know what to do. A business that gives wrong allergen information can face improvement notices and prosecution, and where a customer is harmed, far more serious charges.

The 14 allergens every member of staff must know

What the FSA now recommends

In 2025 the FSA published best practice guidance for food sold loose, the sector covering restaurants, cafés, takeaways, delis and market stalls. Its central recommendation is that written allergen information should always be available for non-prepacked food, alongside a conversation between staff and the customer about their allergen needs. The guidance does not change the law, and businesses can still choose how they provide the information, but it sets a clear expectation that a customer should not have to rely on a busy server’s memory. Training is how that conversation goes well.

What good allergen training covers

For everyone

• The 14 allergens, and the difference between an allergy, an intolerance and coeliac disease.
• Recognising anaphylaxis: swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, breathing difficulty, a sudden drop in blood pressure. Call 999, use the customer’s adrenaline auto-injector if they have one and ask for help, and never send someone who is reacting to the toilet alone.
• How to take an allergen request: listen, write it down, check the allergen matrix, and say so if you are not sure. “I don’t know” is a safe answer; guessing is not.

For kitchen staff

• Reading supplier labels and spotting “may contain” statements.
• Controlling cross-contact: clean equipment and surfaces, separate utensils, fryer oil shared with battered foods, and handwashing between orders.
• Following the recipe exactly. A substitution, such as a different brand of stock or pesto, can introduce an allergen that is not on the matrix.

For managers

• Keeping the allergen matrix accurate whenever a recipe or supplier changes.
• Making sure PPDS labels are complete and correct under Natasha’s Law.
• Recording who has been trained and when, and refreshing it. Annual refresher training, and retraining after any near miss, is sensible practice.

Free and paid training options

The FSA offers free online allergen training for food businesses on its website, which is a sound starting point for any team. Paid courses from training providers often add a certificate and a record for the business, which helps show an inspector that training has happened. Neither replaces training on your own menu: an hour walking staff through your actual dishes, your matrix and your ordering process is the part that prevents mistakes.

Why this is an ethics question as well as a compliance one

Customers with allergies are trusting the business with their health. A culture where staff feel able to say “let me check” and where nobody is punished for stopping an order is what turns training into safety. That is the same principle behind a good code of ethics and a working compliance programme. For more on the wider picture, see what corporate compliance means, or go back to the E-Business Ethics homepage.

Sources: Food Standards Agency, allergen guidance for food businesses; FSA, allergen information for non-prepacked foods: best practice summary.