Adding Allergen Information

Accurate allergen information is crucial for customer safety and legal compliance. Allergenius helps you manage all 14 major allergens.

The 14 Major Allergens

UK and EU food regulations require declaration of these 14 allergens:

Allergen	Common Sources
Celery	Celery stalks, leaves, seeds, celeriac
Crustaceans	Crab, lobster, prawns, shrimp
Eggs	All eggs, mayonnaise, meringue
Fish	All fish species, fish sauce, anchovies
Gluten	Wheat, barley, rye, oats
Lupin	Lupin seeds, flour (common in bread)
Milk	All dairy products, butter, cream, cheese
Molluscs	Mussels, oysters, squid, snails
Mustard	Mustard seeds, powder, oil, leaves
Peanuts	Peanuts, peanut oil, groundnuts
Sesame	Sesame seeds, tahini, sesame oil
Soybeans	Soy sauce, tofu, edamame, soy milk
Sulphites	Wine, dried fruit, some preservatives
Tree Nuts	Almonds, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, etc.

Adding Allergens to Items

Edit the menu item
In the Allergens section, check all that apply
Be thorough – check every ingredient in your recipe
Save your changes

May Contain Information

The "May Contain" field is for cross-contamination warnings:

Items prepared in shared equipment
Items from suppliers with allergen warnings
Kitchen cross-contact risks

Example: "May contain traces of nuts due to shared preparation areas"

Your note is shown on the public menu and in the menu PDF. Free-text notes are printed as written, not interpreted as structured allergen selections or used to fill a matrix. Structured May Contain selections and the in-app matrix download are currently restricted to admin testing.

See Add Menu Items for saving your item and Menu Filtering for Customers for what these warnings mean when filters are applied.

Gluten and Tree Nut Types

You can add more detail when an item contains gluten or tree nuts:

Gluten: once ticked, choose which cereals are present – Wheat, Barley, Rye and/or Oats
Tree Nuts: once ticked, choose which nuts are present – Almonds, Hazelnuts, Walnuts, Cashews, Pecans, Brazil nuts, Pistachios and/or Macadamia nuts

Your public menu then shows the exact names, helping customers who react to one cereal or nut but not others.

This detail is optional. Items that already have Gluten or Tree Nuts ticked keep the plain label until you open the item and choose the types. For customer safety, items with only the plain label stay hidden whenever a customer filters out any related cereal or nut – see Menu Filtering for Customers.

Verification Tips

Review supplier ingredient lists regularly
Check with your kitchen team about recipes
Update immediately when recipes change
Consider cross-contamination in your kitchen

Legal Requirements

In the UK, you must:

Provide allergen information for all food sold
Make information easily accessible to customers
Keep information accurate and up-to-date
Train staff to answer allergen queries

Allergenius helps you meet these requirements by providing a clear, accessible format for allergen information.