Guide · allergens
The allergen matrix for sit-down restaurants (and where Natasha's Law stops)
Natasha's Law is the allergen rule everybody has heard of, and it is the one a sit-down restaurant uses least. The rules that govern a plated dinner are older and simpler: know the 14 allergens in every dish, tell the guest before they order, and make sure what they told you reaches the cook.
Published · A practical guide for restaurants in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, not legal advice.
The 14 allergens
UK food law names fourteen substances that every food business has to declare when they are in a dish. The Food Standards Agency lists them as celery; cereals containing gluten, such as wheat, rye, barley and oats; crustaceans; eggs; fish; lupin; milk; molluscs; mustard; peanuts; sesame; soybeans; sulphur dioxide and sulphites above ten parts per million; and tree nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios, Brazil nuts and macadamias. The list comes from Annex II of the food information regulation the UK kept after leaving the EU.
Two of them catch kitchens out more than the rest. Sulphites hide in wine, vinegar, dried fruit and some sausages; mustard hides in dressings, marinades and spice mixes bought in. Read the label of every bought-in sauce and base, not only the raw ingredients.
What the rules ask of food served at the table
A plated meal is non-prepacked food, and the FSA's guidance names meals served in a restaurant among them. You must be able to give allergen information for every item that contains any of the 14. You may do it in writing — on the menu, a chalkboard or an information pack — or by word of mouth, as long as a written notice in a clearly visible place tells guests how to get it.
The FSA adds that written information supported by a conversation works best for guests, that staff need allergen training, and that where cross-contamination cannot be avoided, the guest should be told that an allergen-free dish cannot be provided. A "gluten-free" label belongs only on a dish where you control that risk.
Orders taken at a distance, by phone or online for takeaway, have a second step: the information has to be available before the purchase is completed and again when the food is handed over.
Natasha's Law covers prepacked food only
Natasha's Law is the Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019, with matching rules in Wales and Northern Ireland, all in force since 1 October 2021. It is about food prepacked for direct sale: packed on the same premises it is sold from, before the customer chooses it. The FSA's examples are sandwiches, salads and pies made and sold where they are made. Such food needs a label with its name and a full list of ingredients, with the allergens emphasised.
For a dining room that means a short list of places to look: the sandwiches in a café's chiller, the boxed cakes on the counter, the jars of house chutney by the door. A dish cooked to order and carried to the table is non-prepacked food, and the rules in the section above are the ones that apply to it.
Allergy notes, from the booking to the pass
- 1
At the booking
Slotora's online booking form has a free note whose hint mentions allergies; it has no allergy field of its own, so ask the question on the phone and again at the table. Staff move what the guest wrote onto the guest card.
- 2
On the guest card
An allergy on the card raises an alert on the guest's booking and puts the table in the pre-service briefing, so the floor knows before the guest sits down.
- 3
At the order
The waiter adds an allergy note to the dish, and the guest's allergies are read back before the round is sent. A guest whose card lists an allergy and orders from the table's QR code always waits for a waiter first.
- 4
At the pass
The note arrives at the station with the dish. The pass checks it against the matrix before the plate leaves.
A matrix that stays current
An allergen matrix is a table with your dishes down the side and the 14 allergens across the top. The FSA offers a free template, and it works on paper or in a spreadsheet. Its weakness is time: the matrix is right on the day it is written and wrong the first time a supplier changes a stock or a chef swaps a garnish. The FSA's advice is to keep it up to date and think about the impact whenever a recipe changes.
Three habits keep it honest. Tie each line to a recipe, not to a dish name. Re-read the labels when a delivery arrives with a different brand. Date the matrix and sign it, so the pass knows which version it is reading.
In Slotora each dish on the menu carries its 14 allergens, with vegetarian and vegan marks, and the guest who orders from the table's QR code reads the same allergens in their own language. When a recipe changes, the dish is changed once, in one place. An allergen word in an imported menu that is not one of the 14 is reported to you rather than guessed.
- Keep the matrix where the pass can see it, beside the day sheet.
- Train every new starter on it before their first service.
- When in doubt about a dish, say so to the guest. A refusal is safer than a guess.
Allergens in restaurants: short answers
Does Natasha's Law apply to restaurant meals?
Only to food prepacked for direct sale, such as sandwiches or salads packed on the premises before the customer chooses them. A dish cooked to order falls under the rules for non-prepacked food.
Can allergen information be given verbally?
Yes, if a clearly visible written notice tells guests how to get it. The FSA says written information supported by a conversation works best.
Which are the 14 allergens?
Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, and tree nuts.
Sources (checked 24 October 2026)
The menu, with the 14 allergens on every dish · Guest profiles and allergy alerts · QR ordering at the table · Pricing
Recording allergies at booking · Kitchen display or paper tickets · All guides