How to Make an Allergen Matrix for Your Menu

An allergen matrix is a chart listing every dish you serve against the 14 allergens, with a tick where the dish contains one. It’s one of the ways the FSA’s own Safer Food, Better Business pack suggests giving allergen information in writing, and the FSA’s best practice is that written allergen information should be easy for customers to get.

Checked against official UK guidance on 28 September 2026. More straight answers: food safety questions, answered.

If you serve food that isn’t prepacked, such as meals in a café, restaurant or takeaway, you must be able to tell customers which of the 14 allergens are in each dish. You can do that by telling them in person, as long as there’s a sign saying where to ask. But the FSA’s best practice guidance, published in 2025, goes further: “It is best practice that food businesses should make allergen information easily available in writing for consumers.”

An allergen matrix is the simplest way to do that. It also gives your staff one reliable place to check, instead of relying on memory at 8pm on a Saturday.

The 14 allergens your matrix must cover

Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya, and sulphur dioxide and sulphites. Our article on the 14 major allergens explains where each one tends to hide.

How to build it, step by step

1. Start with your recipes, not your menu

Write out every dish as it’s actually made, including sauces, dressings, garnishes, marinades and the oil it’s fried in. The menu says “chicken salad”. The recipe says honey mustard dressing, croutons and a parmesan shaving.

2. Check every ingredient’s label

Go through the packaging for each ingredient and note the allergens in bold on the label. Don’t assume: two brands of the same stock cube can be completely different. Keep the labels, or photos of them, with your matrix.

3. Build the grid

Dishes down the side, the 14 allergens across the top. Our free allergen matrix template is ready to print, with all 14 columns set out for you. Put a clear mark where a dish contains an allergen. Leave the other boxes blank rather than writing “no”, so a missed box never reads as a confirmed “free from”.

Example only. Your own recipes and suppliers decide what goes in each box, so never copy someone else’s matrix.

4. Add the cross-contact warning

A matrix shows what’s in a dish, not what it might pick up. If you use shared fryers, boards or surfaces, say so. The FSA gives an example of the kind of wording to use: “We use peanuts, nuts, soy and wheat (gluten) in our kitchen, please speak to us.”

5. Date it, sign it, and put it where staff can reach it

Front of house and kitchen should work from the same copy. Put the date at the top so everyone can see it’s current.

Keeping it accurate: where kitchens get caught out

The FSA recommends keeping records of ingredients and recipes and regularly checking whether ingredients have changed. In practice, most matrix failures come from the same few places:

• A supplier swaps a product and nobody checks the new label. Make “check the label” part of goods-in.
• A chef changes a recipe (“I’ve added a bit of mustard to the dressing”) without updating the matrix.
• Specials that never make it onto the matrix at all.
• The printed copy on the pass is three versions out of date. Keep one master and reprint when it changes.

Prepacked for direct sale is different

If you make food on site and pack it before the customer chooses it, such as sandwiches in a chiller, that’s prepacked for direct sale (PPDS). Since October 2021, PPDS food must be labelled with its name and a full ingredients list with the allergens emphasised. A matrix alone isn’t enough for PPDS.

Getting allergens wrong can have serious consequences, for your customers and for you. Our article on the legal consequences of an allergic reaction explains why.

Frequently asked questions

Is an allergen matrix a legal requirement?

Not the matrix itself. The law requires you to give accurate information about the 14 allergens in food you serve. A matrix is a written way to do that, and written information is the FSA’s best practice.

How often should I update it?

Every time a recipe, ingredient or supplier changes, and check it regularly anyway. Put a date on it so staff know it’s current.

Can I just write ‘ask staff about allergens’ on the menu?

You can give allergen information verbally if there’s clear signposting telling customers where to get it, but staff must then have accurate information to hand, which is what a matrix is for.

Sources

• GOV.UK / FSA: Allergen information for non-prepacked foods, best practice (February 2025)
• FSA: Safer Food, Better Business for caterers, ‘Managing food allergen information’ safe method
• FSA: Allergen guidance for food businesses