Allergens are food substances that can trigger adverse reactions in sensitive people. EU Regulation 1169/2011 requires anyone serving food — restaurants included — to inform the guest about the presence of 14 allergens in dishes: gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soy, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin, molluscs.
The information must be accessible and verifiable: on the menu, in a dedicated document available on request, or on a digital medium. An untraceable verbal answer isn’t enough.
How to handle it in practice
The simplest route is listing allergens next to each dish, now made easier by the QR menu, which lets you update them in real time without reprinting. At guest level, recording allergies in the guest CRM avoids asking at every visit and prevents dangerous errors.
It’s a legal obligation, but also an act of care: for an allergic guest, feeling safe matters as much as the dish.
Frequently asked questions
- Which allergens must be declared?
- There are 14 under EU Reg. 1169/2011: gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soy, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphites, lupin and molluscs.
- How must a restaurant communicate allergens?
- In an accessible, verifiable way: on the menu, in a dedicated document available on request, or on a digital medium like a QR menu. A simple untraced verbal note isn't enough.