An allergen matrix is the single most useful document a UK food business can own. It's the grid that maps every dish on your menu against the 14 regulated allergens — and it's the document an Environmental Health Officer will ask to see within the first ten minutes of any inspection.

This guide walks through how to build one properly, the mistakes that get businesses fined, and a free template you can start using today. If you'd rather skip the spreadsheet entirely, we'll also cover when a digital allergen matrix is the better answer.

An allergen matrix is a grid:

• Rows = every dish or product you sell
• Columns = the 14 regulated UK allergens
• Cells = "contains," "may contain" (cross-contamination), or "does not contain"

It exists to do one thing: let any member of your staff, at any time, answer "does this dish contain X?" with a written, current, defensible answer. Not from memory. Not from "I'll check with the chef." From the document.

The law (Food Information Regulations 2014) doesn't say "you must have a matrix." It says you must provide accurate allergen information for every food you sell, and you must have written records that back up what you tell customers. The matrix is, in practice, the most efficient way to satisfy that requirement — which is why the Food Standards Agency, EHOs, and food safety auditors all expect to see one.

If you don't have a matrix, you need to be able to point to an equivalent written system: per-dish ingredient cards, a tagged recipe database, or a digital allergen menu. "It's in the chef's head" is not a system.

Every UK matrix needs these 14 columns, in this order, exactly as named:

1. 1Celery
2. 2Cereals containing gluten
3. 3Crustaceans
4. 4Eggs
5. 5Fish
6. 6Lupin
7. 7Milk
8. 8Molluscs
9. 9Mustard
10. 10Tree nuts
11. 11Peanuts
12. 12Sesame
13. 13Soya
14. 14Sulphur dioxide and sulphites

For a plain-English explanation of each, including the hidden sources that catch businesses out, see the 14 food allergens explained.

Step 1: List every dish you sell

Every. Single. Dish. Including the side that "comes with" the main, the sauce that's "just a drizzle," and the bread basket on the table. If a customer can put it in their mouth, it goes on the list. Most independent restaurants are surprised to discover they sell 60-120 items, not the 30-40 they assumed from the menu.

Don't forget:

• Specials and seasonal dishes
• Children's menu items
• Sauces, dips, dressings, garnishes
• Bread, butter, olive oil
• Cocktail garnishes and bar snacks
• Anything sold from a counter, deli, or grab-and-go fridge

Step 2: Get every supplier specification

For each ingredient you buy, you need the supplier's allergen specification — the document or label from your supplier that lists allergens for that product. Don't assume. The pesto you switched to last month might now contain cashews. The "plain" tortilla wrap might contain soya. Suppliers change formulations and they don't always tell you.

If a supplier can't provide an allergen spec, change supplier. This is not negotiable under UK law.

Step 3: Build the recipe breakdown

For each dish, list every ingredient, including:

• Main ingredients
• Sauces and marinades (and their ingredients)
• Cooking oils (some fryer oils contain soya)
• Coatings, dustings, and glazes
• Anything used in preparation, even if rinsed off

Then, for each ingredient, copy across the allergens from the supplier spec.

Step 4: Mark "contains" vs "may contain"

• Contains — the allergen is a deliberate ingredient.
• May contain — the allergen is not a deliberate ingredient, but cross-contamination is a real risk. Common cases: shared fryer with battered fish, shared chopping board, flour dust in a bakery, nuts handled in the same kitchen.

"May contain" is not a get-out clause. Overusing it (marking every allergen on every dish "may contain") makes your matrix useless and tells an EHO you haven't done the work. Use it where the cross-contamination risk is real and unavoidable.

Step 5: Add a date and an owner

Every matrix needs a "last updated" date and a named person responsible. Without these, it's not a controlled document — it's a piece of paper.

Step 6: Review and re-check

Have a second person — ideally a chef and a manager together — go through the matrix dish by dish. Allergen recording is mind-numbingly easy to get wrong on the first pass.

The simplest format is a spreadsheet. We've published a free allergen matrix template at allergenius.co.uk/free-allergen-matrix — pre-formatted for UK law, with all 14 allergens, a date field, an owner field, and a "may contain" convention. Download it, fill it in, print a copy for the kitchen, and keep the master file backed up.

A spreadsheet matrix works on day one. By month three, it's almost always out of date. Here's why:

• The chef changes the pesto recipe but doesn't update the spreadsheet.
• The supplier reformulates the wraps but the new spec sheet sits in a manager's email.
• A new dish goes on as a special and never makes it into the grid.
• The laminated printout in the kitchen says the cheesecake is nut-free, but last week's batch was made with an almond base.

The matrix becomes a document the EHO looks at and the staff ignore. That's worse than not having one — it's evidence of a system that wasn't followed.

For a fuller breakdown of these failure modes, see why paper allergen menus fail.

A digital allergen matrix solves the "one source of truth" problem. Update a dish, and the kitchen printout, the front-of-house reference, the customer QR code menu, and the supplier audit report all update at the same time. No version drift. No "which folder is the current matrix in?"

You should consider going digital when:

• Your menu changes more than once a quarter
• You have more than 30 dishes
• You sell PPDS items that need Natasha's Law labels
• You operate from more than one site or van
• You've ever failed an audit because the matrix on the wall didn't match the food being served

Allergenius is built exactly for this: enter each dish once, tag the allergens, and every output — kitchen reference, customer QR menu, PPDS labels, EHO printouts — comes from the same record.

When the inspector asks for your allergen records, they will look for:

1. 1Coverage — does the matrix include every dish currently on the menu?
2. 2Currency — when was it last updated? Does the date match recent menu changes?
3. 3Consistency — does the matrix match the menu, match the labels, match what the staff just told them?
4. 4Supplier specs — can you produce the supplier allergen spec for any ingredient on request?
5. 5Procedure — who updates the matrix, how often, and what triggers a re-check?

For the full inspection checklist, see preparing for an EHO allergen inspection.

• Forgetting sides, sauces, and garnishes
• Marking "may contain" on everything to be safe (it isn't safe — it's lazy)
• Not updating after recipe changes
• Using "Yes / No" instead of distinguishing contains vs may contain
• No date, no owner, no version control
• Storing the only copy on one manager's laptop
• Listing only 10 or 12 allergens because you "don't sell anything with lupin"

If you have nothing in place today, here's the fastest legitimate route:

1. 1Download our free allergen matrix template.
2. 2Print your current menu and write every dish, side, and sauce on the rows.
3. 3Pull supplier spec sheets for every ingredient (email suppliers if you don't have them).
4. 4Fill the grid with a chef in the room.
5. 5Have a manager re-check it.
6. 6Date it, sign it, print one for the kitchen, save the master to cloud storage.
7. 7Diary a monthly review.

That's enough to satisfy an EHO inspection on Monday morning. If you want the matrix to stay current without manual upkeep, that's where Allergenius allergen management software comes in: one update, every record refreshed.

Allergenius is the digital matrix done properly. Every dish, every allergen, every label, every customer QR menu — generated from one record. Update the record once, and every output refreshes. No more version drift. No more "which folder is the current matrix in?"

See how Allergenius works for your menu →