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The 14 Major Allergens UK Businesses Must Declare — The Full List
UK food businesses must be able to tell customers about 14 allergens: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya, and sulphur dioxide and sulphites (above 10mg per kg or litre). The duty applies to every food business, from restaurants to home bakers and market stalls.
Last checked 25 September 2026 against official guidance. More straight answers: Food safety questions, answered.
The legal basis
- Set out under the Food Information Regulations 2014 (implementing EU Regulation 1169/2011, retained in UK law).
- Applies to every food business, regardless of size, and to both pre-packed and non-pre-packed food.
- Getting this wrong is the single food-safety mistake most likely to cause genuine, serious harm — it’s treated accordingly.
The full list of 14
- Celery — including celeriac and celery seed.
- Cereals containing gluten — wheat, rye, barley, oats and their hybrids.
- Crustaceans — prawns, crab, lobster, langoustine.
- Eggs
- Fish
- Lupin — a legume sometimes found in flours and baked goods.
- Milk
- Molluscs — mussels, oysters, squid, snails.
- Mustard
- Tree nuts — almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, brazil nuts, pistachios, macadamia.
- Peanuts — legally distinct from tree nuts.
- Sesame
- Soybeans
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites — used as a preservative in dried fruit, wine and some processed foods, at concentrations above 10mg/kg or 10mg/litre.
What the law actually requires you to do
If your food contains any of these 14, you must make that clear to the customer — for pre-packed food, that means emphasising the allergen within the ingredients list (commonly done in bold). For food sold loose — a market stall, a café menu, a bakery counter — you must provide the information either in writing or be able to answer clearly and correctly if a customer asks directly. “I think it might have nuts in” is not an acceptable answer under the law; you need to actually know.
Why this exists
Current UK allergen law was strengthened significantly following the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse in 2016, after an allergic reaction to a sandwich whose packaging didn’t clearly show it contained sesame. The resulting legislation, widely known as Natasha’s Law, is a direct response to that case, and reflects how seriously allergen information is now treated across UK food law.
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Frequently asked questions
Do I need to declare allergens even for food I make at home to sell?
Yes — the same 14-allergen law applies to a home food business exactly as it does to a restaurant. There’s no size or turnover exemption.
What’s the difference between an allergy and an intolerance under this law?
The law itself doesn’t distinguish — you must declare the presence of any of the 14 allergens regardless of whether a specific customer has a true allergy, an intolerance, or a personal choice to avoid it.
Can I just put “may contain traces of nuts” on everything to be safe?
Blanket “may contain” labelling on everything isn’t accurate allergen information — the law expects you to know what’s genuinely in your food and communicate that specifically, not hedge with a catch-all warning.