Natasha’s Law requires food that is prepacked for direct sale to carry a full ingredients list, with the 14 regulated allergens emphasised. It came into force across the UK on 1 October 2021. If you package food on your premises before a customer orders it — sandwiches made in the morning, salad pots in a chiller, wrapped cakes on a counter — this applies to you.
The change closed a gap. Before it, food packed on site and sold on site could be sold with no ingredients label at all.
What the law is, formally
“Natasha’s Law” is the common name for the Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019, with matching regulations made in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They amend the Food Information Regulations, which implement Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers.
It is named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after an allergic reaction to a baguette bought from a food-to-go chain. The product contained sesame in the dough but carried no ingredients label, because the rules at the time did not require one for food packed on the premises where it was sold. Her family campaigned for the change in the law that now carries her name.
What is PPDS food?
Everything turns on whether food is prepacked for direct sale (PPDS). Food is PPDS if all of the following are true:
- It is packaged before the customer orders or selects it
- It is packed at the same premises from which it is sold
- It is fully or partly enclosed by the packaging so the food cannot be altered without opening or changing it
Usually PPDS
- Sandwiches, wraps and baguettes made in the morning and put in a chiller
- Salad or pasta pots packed in advance
- Wrapped cakes, tray bakes and pastries on a counter
- Ready meals made and packed on site for customers to take away
- Boxed products at a market stall, packed at that stall
- Free samples packed in advance
Usually NOT PPDS
- Food made to order — a sandwich built while the customer waits, or a takeaway cooked after ordering
- Loose food served without packaging — a plated meal, food from a deli counter, bakery items sold unwrapped
- Food packed at a different site — that is standard prepacked food and already required a full label
- Packaging applied after the customer orders — wrapping a made-to-order burger at the point of handover does not make it PPDS
The distinction that catches people out is timing, not packaging. Wrapped in advance = PPDS. Wrapped in response to an order = not PPDS.
What the label must show
A PPDS label needs both of these:
- The name of the food
- A full ingredients list, in descending order of weight, with any of the 14 regulated allergens emphasised — bold, capitals, contrasting colour or underlining. The emphasis must make the allergen stand out from the rest of the list.
It must be on the packaging or on a label attached to it, and it must be legible.
Note what this is not: it is not a box listing only the allergens. It is the complete ingredients list, with allergens highlighted within it.
The 14 regulated allergens
| Celery | Lupin |
| Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats) | Milk |
| Crustaceans | Molluscs |
| Eggs | Mustard |
| Fish | Peanuts |
| Sesame | Soybeans |
| Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre) | Tree nuts (almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, pecan, Brazil, pistachio, macadamia) |
These are the allergens the law requires you to declare. They are not the only things people react to — which is why a customer telling you about an allergy outside this list still needs an accurate answer.
What about loose and made-to-order food?
Allergen information is still legally required — the difference is how you provide it.
For non-prepacked food you may give allergen information by any means, including verbally, provided there is clear, visible signage telling customers how to ask for it. A sign saying “Please speak to a member of staff about allergens before ordering” plus staff who can actually answer accurately meets the requirement.
Verbal information has an obvious weakness: it is only as good as the person giving it. Most businesses back it with a written allergen matrix behind the counter so nobody is answering from memory.
“May contain” statements
Precautionary allergen labelling — “may contain nuts” — is voluntary, and it is not a substitute for the legal requirements. It should only be used where there is a genuine, unavoidable risk of cross-contamination that you have assessed and cannot design out.
Applying it to everything as a blanket disclaimer is counterproductive: it reduces what people with allergies can safely eat, and it does not transfer your legal responsibility for accurate ingredients information.
Allergen cross-contamination is a separate problem
Labelling tells customers what is in the food. It does nothing about a trace of allergen that got there by accident.
Cooking destroys most bacteria but does not destroy allergens — allergenic proteins survive heat. So allergen control depends on separation and cleaning, not temperature:
- Separate preparation areas or separate times for allergen-free dishes
- Dedicated or thoroughly washed utensils, boards and containers — not just wiped
- Store allergens sealed and below other ingredients
- Wash hands between tasks; change gloves
- Watch shared equipment — fryers, toasters, slicers, ice cream scoops
See the 4 Cs of food hygiene for the wider cross-contamination picture.
Getting it right in practice
- List every PPDS product you make. This is usually longer than people expect.
- Get accurate ingredients for every component, including sauces, dressings, marinades and oils. Keep supplier specifications.
- Build a recipe-level ingredients list for each product, in weight order.
- Label with allergens emphasised within that list.
- Re-check whenever anything changes — a substituted supplier can change an allergen profile without changing the dish. Reformulation is one of the biggest sources of wrong labels.
- Train your staff, and record that you did.
Non-compliance is an offence enforced by local authorities, and allergen management forms part of your food hygiene rating assessment. The more serious risk, however, is not regulatory — an inaccurate label can seriously harm someone.
Further reading
- FSA — Allergen labelling changes for PPDS food
- FSA — Food allergy and intolerance
- Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019
Allergen training
Nexis CPD courses covering allergens and labelling:
- Food Allergen Awareness — the 14 allergens, cross-contamination control and communicating with customers
- Food Labelling Regulations — what must appear on a label and how
- Level 2 — Catering · Retail
Related reading: The 4 Cs of food hygiene · HACCP explained in plain English · Food hygiene certificate guide
£9 per course. CPD accredited, 100 % online, verifiable e-certificate on completion. Pay for 2, get 3 — any 3 courses for £18.
Please note: these are CPD-accredited awareness courses and general information, not legal advice. They are not Ofqual-regulated qualifications. Allergen labelling requirements are detailed and carry serious consequences if applied wrongly — check the current FSA guidance and your own local authority’s advice for your specific products.