FSA update to food allergen labelling guidance
Find the latest guidance on the use of 'may contain' statements on food packaging
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published updates to their food allergen labelling and information technical guidance, as a result of a consultation held earlier this year. This best practice technical guidance aims to support food businesses when applying allergen labelling, whilst helping to keep consumers safe.
The updates recommend several changes in relation to how food businesses should use precautionary allergen labelling (PAL), often written as 'may contain' statements on food packaging.
The FSA is now advising that food businesses should:
- Only apply PAL if there is an unavoidable risk of allergen cross-contamination which cannot be sufficiently controlled by segregation and cleaning.
- Specify which of the 14 major allergens the PAL refers to - for example, using 'may contain peanuts' rather than a generic 'may contain nuts' statement.
- Use PAL statements in combination with a 'vegan' label where a risk of cross-contamination with an allergen has been identified. A 'vegan' label communicates different information to a 'free-from' claim, which is food safety information aimed at different consumer groups.
The technical guidance goes into further detail about why businesses should not use a PAL statement alongside a 'free from' statement. It also gives updated information on best practice for the use of 'no gluten containing ingredient' statements for food businesses in the non-prepacked food sector.
While the use of PAL is voluntary, bringing consistency to how 'may contain' statements are used will help businesses to effectively manage allergens and, importantly, to ensure their consumers are not unnecessarily restricted in the food choices they have.
Read the FSA's food allergen labelling and information requirements technical guidance.
Updates to this guidance also support the newly published change management of allergen information guidance from the Food and Drink Federation, which outlines the actions a food business should consider when managing changes that impact the allergen labelling on pre-packaged products.
First published 5 September 2023