Protecting People With Food Allergies Starts With the Right Label
Supporting your business with food allergy labelling best practices.
Ensure your business meets Natasha’s Law requirements with clear and reliable allergen labelling from Avery UK. Our carefully developed labels are designed to help businesses provide accurate ingredient information across a variety of food products.
This range is intended to support compliance, enhance customer confidence, and promote safe food handling practices through clear and consistent labelling.
What Is Natasha’s Law?
Understanding Natasha’s Law
Natasha’s Law was introduced in October 2021 to improve food labelling transparency and protect people with food allergies. It was named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, a teenager who tragically passed away after eating a sandwich containing sesame—an undeclared allergen.
The law requires all Prepacked for Direct Sale (PPDS) foods—such as sandwiches, salads, or baked goods packaged on-site—to include a full ingredients list with allergens clearly highlighted. This includes the 14 major allergens like milk, eggs, peanuts, gluten, and sesame.
Why It Matters
For the 2 million+ people in the UK living with food allergies, Natasha’s Law is life-saving. It ensures customers can make safe, informed choices and encourages food businesses to prioritise labelling as part of their food safety standards.
What Your Business Must Do
If you sell PPDS food, you’re legally required to:
List all ingredients on packaging
Highlight allergens clearly
Keep labelling up to date
Train staff on allergen awareness
Clear and reliable food allergy information is at the heart of Natasha's Law. This legislation aims to empower consumers with the details they need to make safe choices and build trust in the food they purchase.
The Importance of Clear Food Allergen Labelling – and How Avery UK Can Help
Food allergy labelling plays an important role in maintaining high standards of food safety and communication. It helps ensure that everyone involved in food preparation and service has clear, consistent information about the ingredients being used. Effective labelling can reduce the risk of cross-contamination, support day-to-day operations, and help create a more reliable experience for customers.
Whether you're a café, deli, bakery, school, or food truck, correctly labelling allergens builds customer trust and helps meet your legal responsibilities under Natasha’s Law.
Managing food allergen labelling can be challenging, particularly in fast-moving kitchens where accuracy and efficiency are essential. Avery UK provides a range of practical labels designed to support these needs. Our labels are easy to apply, clear to read, and suitable for various food preparation and storage environments. From pre-printed allergen labels that highlight common risks to dissolvable and freezer-safe options for different stages of food handling, we offer reliable labels that help support consistency and reduce the risk of error. Whether labelling products for individual sale or preparing bulk batches, our labels are developed to help make allergen information clear and compliant.
Avery UK Food Labelling Products for Safer, Smarter Food Handling
Each label in our range serves a specific purpose in the food preparation and service cycle. Our Food Allergen Labels make it quick and easy to highlight ingredients that could pose a risk to customers with allergies, helping you stay compliant with Natasha’s Law. Our dissolvable labels offer a hygienic solution that washes away completely in water—ideal for busy kitchens and reusable containers, helping prevent label build-up or contamination. Freezer labels maintain clarity in cold storage, and our Food traceability labels help when using the first in first out (FIFO) food storage and handling system. Which helps minimise the risk of contamination and food borne illness.
Together, these products form a practical toolkit that enables teams to handle food with care, reinforce allergy awareness, and maintain consistency across operations. By making allergen information visible, legible, and trustworthy, our labels don’t just help you meet regulations—they help you protect your customers, build trust, and operate with confidence every day.
Our Food Labelling Products
Labelling That Works for You and Your Customers
Food labelling doesn’t have to be complicated—but it does have to be correct. As expectations around food safety and transparency grow, having a clear and consistent approach to allergen labelling is more important than ever. Avery UK’s tools are built to slot easily into your day-to-day operations, supporting both legal requirements and customer care. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to streamline your existing process, we’re here to help make things simpler.
How to Label Allergens: A Quick Guide
Under UK food law, there are 14 allergens that must be declared and clearly highlighted when present in any food product. These are:
Celery
Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats)
Crustaceans (e.g. crab, prawns, lobster)
Eggs
Fish
Lupin
Milk
Molluscs (e.g. mussels, squid)
Mustard
Nuts (e.g. almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts)
Peanuts
Sesame seeds
Soya
Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (if above 10mg/kg)
These allergens must be clearly labelled and highlighted on any Prepacked for Direct Sale (PPDS) food item.
PPDS refers to foods that are packaged on the same premises where they’re sold, before the customer selects or orders them. This includes items like:
Pre-packed sandwiches in a café fridge
Salads boxed up in a deli
Cakes wrapped and sold in a bakery
School lunch packs
Since Natasha’s Law came into effect, all PPDS food must have a full ingredients list with allergens clearly emphasised.
Source: Business Guidance - Gov.uk
Ingredients must be listed in descending order by weight. For example:
Ingredients: Wholemeal flour (wheat), water, sunflower seeds, sugar, milk, yeast, egg, salt.
Allergens must be included within the ingredients list, not separately, and must be emphasised for visibility.
Source: Food Labelling Guidance - Gov.uk
You can emphasise allergens in one or more of the following ways:
Bold text (most common and recommended)
Italic text
UPPERCASE
A different colour
Whatever format you choose, it should be consistent and easy to read. Avoid hidden or subtle styling — clarity is crucial.
💡 Example label with emphasis:
Ingredients: Wholemeal flour (wheat), sugar, sunflower seeds, milk, egg, salt
Source: Allergy UK
Yes, food labels can be handwritten.
Handwritten labels must meet legal font size requirements.
Text must be easily visible and clearly legible to consumers.
Allergens must be emphasised clearly—this can be done using:
Bold type
Capital letters
Contrasting colours
Underlining
📚 Source: Food Standards Agency – Labelling guidance for PPDS food products
Avery offers several options tailored to your kitchen or food service setup:
🟠 Food Allergen Labels (ALL9840) – Pre-printed allergen labels for handwriting essential info quickly and clearly.
💧 Dissolvable Labels (SOLUB18) – Labels that completely wash off in water to avoid residue and cross-contamination.
❄️ Freezer Labels (CONG24.uk) – Cold-resistant and moisture-proof for clear labelling even in frozen storage.
🔁 Food Traceability Labels (ETIHACCP) – For tracking batch info, prep dates, and traceable allergen control.
When listing allergens on a printed menu (or chalkboard/digital display), use the same visibility rules:
Highlight allergens in bold or italic
Add a short statement like:
“For allergy advice, please speak to a member of staff. All allergens are highlighted in bold.”
Example:
Tuna Pasta Bake (contains wheat, milk, fish)
Vegan Brownie (may contain traces of nuts and soya)
Source: Business Guidance - Gov.uk
Yes. Any change to your recipe, supplier, or ingredients must be reflected immediately on your allergen labelling. Outdated labels can put customers at risk and may lead to legal consequences.
Tip: Keep a log of all recipes and suppliers and train staff to cross-check any changes before preparing or packaging food.
Source: Natasha's Law: Training
Avery UK offers labelling solutions that are:
Pre-printed with allergen callouts for ease and consistency
Handwrite-compatible for quick application
Removable, dissolvable or freezer-safe for various kitchen environments
Designed to reduce cross-contamination, support food hygiene, and make compliance simple
Our labels can be used in cafés, schools, caterers, and independent retailers across the UK to help meet Natasha’s Law with confidence.
Avery provides free templates and design tools for our food labels, including:
Ingredient formatting
Allergen emphasis tools
Editable layouts for handwriting or printing