food allergens

26 January 2015


How To Read Ingredients Labels & Understand New Food Labelling Laws

Last week Bodhi Luxe published my article titled "How To Read Ingredients Labels & Understand New Food Labelling Laws" In this post, I am giving a brief overview of the new EU Regulations regarding labelling of food allergens for pre-packaged foods, eating out and food served loose (non-prepackaged).

The Bodhi Luxe website has been removed so I have posted my original article below.

When it comes to our food most people are likely to take an interest in what they consume and will read labels. I assume most of us are now familiar with nutritional information, but the way in which allergens are identified has recently changed.

Companies have been preparing for new EU regulations (‘Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011′), which have been adopted into UK law and officially came into effect on 13th December 2014. The regulation affects pre-packaged foods, eating out and food served loose (non-prepackaged).

There are fourteen major allergens which need to be highlighted: Cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide, lupin and molluscs.

Allergens need to be identified according to these names and emphasised on the label; this could be in bold, italics or underlined. For example, you should see allergens listed as tofu (soya), tahini (sesame seed) and whey powder (milk). 

A ‘contains X’ allergy statement will no longer be allowed. A ‘may contain’ warning (for cross contamination risks or production methods) is voluntary information which should be taken seriously, yet the new regulations do not control how this information is provided by businesses.

When it comes to making consumers aware about gluten, it’s the cereal that needs to be identified e.g. wheat, rye, barley. There are existing regulations for labelling products ‘gluten free’ (a threshold exists and these products must not contain more than 20ppm gluten). If Coeliacs have any questions about food labels, further information is available from Coeliac UK

Another major change affects businesses selling unpackaged foods, such as those sold on market stalls, restaurants or deli counters. These sellers will no longer be allowed to say they do not know if the product contains allergens. However, the new regulations are not asking chefs to specifically cater for allergies or remove allergens from their kitchens, it is simply to provide information which can assist allergic customers to identify safe dishes.

Allergen information could be written down on a chalk board or chart, or provided orally by a member of staff. When allergen information is not provided upfront, clear signposting to where this information could be obtained must be provided. If you struggle to obtain the information you require, then report the establishment to your local authority (Trading Standards).

The year ahead is going to be an interesting one for food labelling. Old and new styles will co-exist for the time-being until older stocks are depleted. Not everyone has been ‘getting’ the labels and mistakes are being picked up by consumers.

19 December 2014


There has been something which has been bugging me for a little while. Tesco own brand Free From range recently had a little make over. I do like the new bold allergy labels (pictured above) but I have been scratching my head over the dairy free and milk free logo. As far as I am concerned dairy and milk free means the same e.g exclusion of milk, so I am curious why Tesco are labelling products in this way.

It crossed my mind if it had something to do with a common misconception that egg falls under dairy. This is certainly a misunderstanding which I have encountered over the years. Tesco are using a separate logo for egg free/contains egg. As someone with an egg allergy, I am very pleased to finally see labelling which is upfront and a quick reference to guide me to products. Could it be that free from dairy is another way of saying there is no animal milk in a product, a catch all term for anyone not only avoiding cows milk but also sheep and goat etc? I have been considering if this logo confuses non-allergic shoppers, if a friend bought me the chocolate bar would they worry about whether it was suitable for me?

What do you think? Am I making a fuss over nothing or are you as confused as I am?

Sarah x

21 January 2014


ilumi Dairy, Gluten & Nut Free Ready Meals

UPDATE - ilumi contacted me via Twitter to say they control for 14 allergens. I pointed out that this information needed to be clearer on the website as they only appear (from my viewpoint) to promote GF, DF & NF

UPDATE 29.01.16 - it has come to light that ilumi will no longer guarantee free from nuts. Please consult with them if you have concerns.

Ilumi are expanding their product range and they contacted me, asking if I would like to try the Lentil Dahl. I ended up receiving several products which included Spicy Butternut Squash Soup, Vegetable & Chickpea Jalfrezi and Spanish Style Rice & Vegetables.

I discovered ilumi at the Allergy & Free From Show 2013. They offer a range of convenience meals guaranteeing to be free of nut, gluten & milk. If you have other allergies, do not dismiss them entirely because you maybe in luck. The search function at the top of the shopping page allows you to filter the range of foods based on what you want to exclude. You can also narrow by vegetarian or vegan.

Reviewing foods is difficult because personal taste is involved, what I like you may dislike and vice versa. Out of the products I received the Butternut Squash Soup was my favourite. Vegan/dairy free soup is very difficult to track down at the supermarket, until Amy's Kitchen arrived I was making my own soup. Nothing wrong with that but sometimes I lack time or space in the freezer and I like to keep tinned soup in the cupboard for rainy days. I shy away from spicy food so I did worry the soup may not be to my liking but I found the chilli content to be mild and palatable. The soup had a nice consistency, not too thin, not too thick. It looked and tasted natural and fresh. 

When it comes to ready meals, I regularly buy Amy's Kitchen products, (Red Thai Curry & Vegetable Korma) from my local shop. I tend to favour curries which are mild, sweet and fruity so I'm not surprised that I found the Vegetable & Chickpea Jalfrezi and Lentil Dahl palatable but not tantalising to my taste buds. I wouldn't be inclined to purchase these for myself.

This is the second time I've tried the Spanish Rice as I was given a sample at the Allergy show. I have to be honest, I am not the biggest fan. I find it too sloppy and would rather it be a little drier and more along the lines of paella or risotto, just a little less sauce. I also find that paprika is the stand out flavour on my taste buds, not a bad thing but seems to overwhelm the other ingredients.


ilumi Dairy, Gluten & Nut Free Ready Meals

I commend ilumi for tackling an area of the free from market which has been lacking for many years. Putting ingredients on the front of the packaging is innovative and I wish more free from companies did this. I can not make up my mind whether I would order from ilumi because I do find the Vegetarian/Vegan range limited. I also have allergies which are outside the top 8 so this limits my choices even more. From where I'm sitting I think ilumi heavily promote towards the gluten free market. I feel Coeliacs are their target audience rather than me, the Vegetarian with every allergy but Gluten. I think if ilumi expanded their veggie soup range I would be more inclined to order because that is where the supermarkets let me down. During the colder weather I feel there is a place for ilumi in my lunchbox when I'm up for braving the scummy microwave at work. I can also see this as a handy option for camping or self catering holidays as the pouches have a long shelf life and do not require refrigeration. 

Prices are reasonable, the products I tasted are between £1.50 to £2.75 each and currently UK delivery is Free. Meals are 100% natural and do not contain any preservatives, additives, fillers, flavourings or sweeteners. Have you tried ilumi? What did you think of the products and range?

Sarah x
Disclaimer - PR Samples, 100% my own opinions, links are not affiliated

13 November 2013

At the weekend, I came across Pastinos snacks in a variety of flavours. I admit I quickly glanced at the Allergen Advice saw it did not contain milk and threw them in my basket. When I opened these up and tasted, something did not sit well with me in terms of taste and then I spotted CHEESE POWDER. Alarm bells went off and I thought "do these contain MILK?"I am hugely concerned about the label on this packet. I wrote to the Company for clarification about the presence of milk and here is the response.

"Thanks for pointing this out and you are quite correct. We hope this has not inconvenienced people. Our Tomato & Sweet Basil product does contain milk, as an element of the cheese powder ingredient. Non of the other four varieties contain milk and the only allergen advice refers to Wheat. We will change the ingredients list in the next print run and, in line with latest BRC advice, move to emboldening all Allergen references in the ingredients list. This will embolden “wheat” in all the products and well as inserting an emboldened “ (Milk) “ after “Cheese Powder” in the Tomato & Sweet Basil variety"

I am not an expert when it comes to labels and have no idea whether they have done anything wrong in terms of breaking labelling laws. I wanted to put this out there because I fell into that trap of being in a hurry and taking what I see for granted. I've started to put my trust in the Allergen Advice which is wrong of me.  Please don't make the same mistake as I did, read those labels a million times, something which I need to get back into the habit of doing.  I have written about the new allergen labellingMaybe the new labels will be a good thing after all?

Sarah x

11 September 2013

New rules on food allergen labelling will apply from 13 December 2014 but you may have already spotted them. I first noticed the new labels whilst shopping at Waitrose and my initial reaction was a huge heavy hearted sigh. I think it's been around twenty seven years since my allergies were officially diagnosed and I am still learning the ropes and making mistakes. I don't think I embrace change very easily for that reason.

So what am I talking about. The new changes will effect labelling on food that is pre‑packed, sold loose or served when eating out. Allergens will be highlighted/bold (or may be in italics or underlined) within the ingredients list, for example


The other change is a ‘contains x’ allergen statement can no longer be provided alongside an ingredients list. This means we will see the allergen advice box disappear and the label pictured below would not be allowed.





Fourteen major allergens will be highlighted on the label within the ingredients list. They are: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide, lupin and molluscs. I recommend this PDF from the Food Standards Agency, if you would like to learn more about the new rules.

My initial reaction has been I hate the new format. Reading labels is time consuming and this just adds to the problem. If the font is small then the bold letters can still be hard to spot. I do not think the allergens in the first picture (from a box of Cheerios) is particularly clear, a different colour bold font would be better. I know from speaking to people via Twitter that those of you that need to avoid gluten are concerned. The first picture is a good example to help you understand the problem for them. As you see Oat, Wheat and Barley are highlighted as they are cereals which contain gluten. No where on the label do you read "contains gluten" because it's not allowed. This relies heavily on people understanding gluten allergy/intolerance, that may be easy for the coeliac but what about if you were buying for an intolerant friend, would you recognise this?

When I think about the situation some more, I realise I am being forced to read the ingredients in detail, so maybe this is a good idea? It puts the responsibility back into my hands and makes me analyse my food rather than just glancing at the allergen advice box/label. I am interested to see the changes in restaurants/cafes because I do feel that certain places lack reliable allergy information. However, just before I published this post I spotted yesnobananas.wordpress.com has written about the same topic. She points out that eateries can offer this information in a few ways, one of which is verbally to the customer and that just opens up a whole can of worms. Being reliant on the server's knowledge of allergens on a menu is a huge responsibility. Couple of weeks ago, I was in a chain pizza restaurant, placed my order for a cheeseless pizza and the server questioned me about if I could have the dough. On one hand it's great that she questioned my choices but my response  was "according to this booklet of allergens you have given me there is no milk in the dough so I trust this information is up to date?". She couldn't answer my question. I chose to take the risk as I regarded the printed information to be more reliable than the server. That may have been wrong of me to make that decision but I don't think I would be alone in this viewpoint.

What are your thoughts on the changes?

Sarah x

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