Natasha’s law for foods and beverages in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
Natashas Law

Natasha’s Law is an allergen identification law for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.  The law was created after Natasha lost her life when she consumed a food item that did not display all the allergens present in the food.  She unknowingly consumed something she was allergic to.  This was not anyone’s fault, and no laws were broken, but at the time there was no rule requiring all allergens to be displayed on a PPDS food or beverage item.  However, as of October 1, 2021, all foods that are Pre-Packed for Direct Sale (PPDS) will require allergen identification to help prevent any other such loss.

What is PPDS?

PPDS stands for Pre-Packed for Direct Sale, meaning foods or beverages packaged for direct sale to your customer. For example, a sandwich your shop creates and stores on a shelf, then packages at your facility, is considered PPDS.  On that sandwich, you must display an allergen notification so the consumer can decide whether the food is the right choice for them and how it will impact their health.

Do you qualify for PPDS?

There are 3 types of packages that you probably have in your facility.

  1. Pre-packaged from another vendor – You purchase this from another vendor to sell in your shop, and it is already pre-packed. For example, you buy your Danish from a vendor that pre-packages it, and you sell that item as it was provided by your vendor.  In this case, this food item will already have an allergen list displayed on the package your vendor makes; hence, you are not responsible for adding any more information as long as you don’t remove that package and the consumer can still see this information clearly.  This type of food item is not considered a PPDS; however, it will have an allergen list, since it’s pre-packed from another vendor.
  2. Custom-made order or made-to-order for the consumer — This type of food item your customer will order as they need, and it is custom-made for them. The law states that in this case, you don’t need to add an allergen list since the consumer will inform you if they are allergic to any ingredients.  Encourage your team to ask the customer if they have any allergies before preparing their order, so the conversation can begin, and any foods with allergens can be avoided.
  3. Pre-packed for Direct Sale — This is where you and your team package the item for your consumer, and the item is available as a grab-and-go in your shop or facility. This type of package requires an allergen label so your consumer can decide if this is the right food item for them and qualifies for Natasha Laws starting October 2021.

How can you be ready for this law?

The food industry has until October 1, 2021, to get ready for this law if you are located in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  To help your team and business get ready, make sure you have ingredients and allergen lists for all food items that you purchase to create your own pre-packaged items.  For example, if you make and sell pre-packaged sandwiches and you buy your bread, special sauce/spread, etc. from another business, then ask them to provide you with details about those items.  You can then check if those items contain any allergens that you may need to display on your final product.

You are responsible for displaying all the allergens present in the final PPDS product, even items you don’t make from scratch and buy pre-made for your final food.  Your supplier can provide the allergen list, so contact them and organise this information within your facility as you prepare for this law.

How can you display the allergen information on your package?

Once you have the details about your food item, you need to determine your options for displaying this data.  The law states that allergens MUST be in an easy-to-read format so consumers can easily detect and review them on the package.

You must also clarify how the allergens are displayed: are they in bold, in capital letters, or another colour, so they can be easily distinguishable within the ingredient lists.

See blog image; this is a full ingredient list of all the items in a sample sandwich, and the allergens are identified via bold text.

How can Axxya Systems help?

  1. We here at Axxya Systems offer a UK/EU food labelling system to display the allergen information. To access and use this system, simply sign up here.
  2. Once you are signed up, you can easily create your recipe within the system and create a nutrition label or an allergen list.
  3. As the picture shows below, you can either display both the nutrition and allergen/ingredient list, or you can simply copy and paste the ingredient list to a Word document and create your own image for your package.
  4. To learn more about how to use this system, check out our video library.
  5. If you would like to learn more about this rule, check out our Video explaining Natasha’s Law
  6. Link to the PDF discussed in the video.

Resources to help with Natasha’s Law

For more information, feel free to check out these links below

Nutritional Categories

Nutrition Tag Cloud