Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Government response to the petition entitled Owen's Law - Change the law around allergy labelling in UK restaurants, published on 14 July 2021, what recent progress the Food Standards Agency has made on assessing the proposal to introduce mandatory allergen labelling on restaurant menus.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
All food businesses are under a legal obligation to provide information on the presence of the 14 major allergens in food, including in the non-prepacked sector, such as in restaurants and cafes, so that people who have allergies and intolerances are able to make safe food choices. Current requirements state that for food items provided in restaurants, allergen information must be clearly signposted and can be provided in writing or verbally.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA), who has policy responsibility for food safety, is currently considering how to improve the provision of information for people with allergies and researching different approaches for the provision of written and verbal information to improve the accuracy and communications of allergen information. The FSA has recently commissioned several pieces of research in this area. These will provide new evidence on the nature and extent of food hypersensitivity reactions, different international approaches to written information, and the business operating models of small and micro businesses in the non-prepacked sector. These reports will be published in due course and will be presented to the FSA Board to consider next steps.
Additionally, the FSA has conducted a study visit to the Republic of Ireland to understand the practical implementation of their legislation mandating written allergen information and a workshop with key stakeholders. This evidence will be used to support careful consideration of any potential changes and to assess the impacts for both consumer safety and food businesses.