Allergens

Under the Food Information Regulations 2014 you must be able to tell a customer which of the fourteen allergens below are in anything you serve. You can do it in one of two ways:

• In writing — on the menu, a board, or a chart kept at the counter. The spreadsheet above prints as one.
• Out loud, by staff — in which case you must display a sign telling customers to ask. The last page of this guide is that sign.

Anything you pack before it is ordered is different. A take-home jar of hot chocolate mix, a bag of your marshmallows, a bottled drink in the fridge: since October 2021 (Natasha’s Law) those need a full label — the name, every ingredient, and the allergens emphasised in the list.

Milk

Dairy milk and cream, most milk and white chocolate, many dark chocolates (milk solids), whey in powders, cream liqueurs.

Cereals containing gluten

Wheat, barley, rye and oats. Oat milk unless it is certified gluten-free, biscuits, wafers, gingerbread, malt, some sprinkles.

Tree nuts

Almond milk, hazelnut praline and spreads, marzipan, amaretti. Nut syrups vary — many are flavouring only, so read the label.

Peanuts

Peanut butter, some sprinkles and brittles.

Soya

Soya milk, and soy lecithin — an emulsifier in a great deal of chocolate.

Eggs

Meringue, eggnog and advocaat, some marshmallows.

Sulphur dioxide / sulphites

Above 10mg per kg or litre: some syrups, dried fruit, wine and some liqueurs.

Sesame seeds

Halva, tahini, some brittles.

Celery, mustard, lupin, fish, crustaceans, molluscs

Unlikely in a hot chocolate — but check anything savoury, and lupin turns up in some flours.

Not the recipe card — the cup. That means the chocolate itself (check the packet, not your memory of it), every milk you offer it with, and every topping and syrup a customer can add. Oat milk brings gluten unless it is certified gluten-free; almond milk brings tree nuts; soya milk brings soya. If you offer the swap, the listing needs to say what it brings.

The classic one is the steam wand. Frothing dairy milk and then oat milk on the same wand puts milk in the oat. Use a separate jug for each milk, and purge the wand and wipe it with a clean cloth between them — or, if you can’t, say so honestly. That is what the trail’s “may contain” box is for. Ticking it for everything as a precaution makes it meaningless to exactly the person who needs it.

“Gluten-free” is a legal claim, not a description: it means under 20 parts per million, and you need to be able to control cross-contact to make it. If you can’t, the honest phrase is “no gluten-containing ingredients”. “Dairy-free” and “vegan” carry a similar expectation — a shared steam wand undermines both, and plenty of marshmallows contain gelatine. Only tick the trail’s dietary tags for what you can stand behind on your busiest Saturday.

A supplier out of stock over Christmas is how a correct chart becomes a wrong one. When anything changes, update your chart, brief whoever is on shift, and tell us straight away — reply to any email from the trail — so the listing changes too. Everyone who serves should know where the chart is kept.

The Food Standards Agency publishes the full guidance for food businesses — search food.gov.uk for allergen guidance for food businesses — and free online allergen training for you and your staff. The food safety team at your local council will also answer questions. This guide is a summary to help you get it right, not legal advice.