Running a food business in the UK comes with a long list of responsibilities, and food labelling sits firmly at the top. Whether you operate a busy restaurant in London, a neighbourhood cafe in Surrey, or a food production unit supplying retail outlets, getting your labelling right is not optional. It is a legal requirement, and failure to comply can result in enforcement action, financial penalties, and lasting damage to your reputation.
We work with food businesses across the UK to cut through the complexity of food safety legislation and turn it into clear, practical action. In this guide, we break down everything you need to know about UK food labelling regulations in 2026, covering allergen requirements, Natasha's Law, calorie labelling, prepacked food rules, and the latest updates from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The landscape of food labelling in the UK has shifted considerably in recent years. Following Brexit, the UK retained and adapted much of the EU's food information legislation under the Food Information for Consumers (FIC) Regulations, but has since introduced domestic updates that all food businesses must understand. In 2026, regulators are enforcing these rules more rigorously than at any previous point.
The Food Standards Agency and local environmental health officers carry out routine inspections and increasingly use best practice guidance as a benchmark when assessing compliance. Non-compliance does not simply result in a quiet warning. Businesses can face improvement notices, fines, and in serious cases, prosecution.
For consumers, the stakes are even higher. Around two million people in the UK live with a food allergy, and severe allergic reactions frequently occur when people eat outside the home. Accurate, accessible labelling is quite literally a matter of life and death for many of your customers.
UK food labelling requirements are governed by a combination of retained EU legislation and domestic law. The primary frameworks you need to know are:
These regulations apply across different categories of food businesses. Whether you prepare food for immediate consumption on site, package it for direct sale, or supply it through a third-party retailer, at least one of these frameworks will apply to your operations. Understanding which rules apply to which category of food is the first step towards full compliance.
Our team has extensive experience in helping businesses identify exactly where they stand under each of these frameworks and building compliance structures that are practical to maintain on a day-to-day basis.
Natasha's Law came into force in October 2021, but its implications continue to shape how food businesses approach prepacked food labelling. Named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died after suffering an allergic reaction to a baguette that lacked adequate allergen labelling, the law changed the rules for prepacked food for direct sale (PPDS).
Prepacked for Direct Sale (PPDS) food is food that is packaged at the same premises where it is sold to the consumer. This includes:
Under Natasha's Law, all PPDS food must carry a label showing:
This was a significant change from the previous position, where PPDS food only needed to show the name of the food. Businesses that had relied on verbal communication with customers to convey allergen information could no longer do so as the sole method of compliance.
If your business prepares and packages food on the same premises where it is sold, your labelling must now meet this higher standard. At Foodsure, we help businesses implement practical PPDS labelling systems that are easy to manage, whether you produce a handful of products each day or a large and varied menu.
Under UK food law, all 14 major allergens must be declared when they are used as an ingredient in food. These allergens are:
| Allergen | Common Sources |
|---|---|
| Celery | Soups, sauces, celery salt, some spice mixes |
| Cereals containing gluten | Wheat, rye, barley, oats and products such as bread, pasta, pastry |
| Crustaceans | Prawns, crab, lobster, crayfish |
| Eggs | Cakes, mayonnaise, pasta, quiches, sauces |
| Fish | Pizzas, relishes, salad dressings, sauces, stock |
| Lupin | Flour and seeds used in bread and pastries |
| Milk | Butter, cheese, cream, ice cream, yoghurt |
| Molluscs | Mussels, oysters, squid, clams |
| Mustard | Salad dressings, marinades, some sauces |
| Nuts (tree nuts) | Almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts |
| Peanuts | Groundnut oil, peanut butter, sauces |
| Sesame seeds | Bread, breadsticks, hummus, sesame oil |
| Soya | Bean curd, edamame, miso, soy sauce, tofu |
| Sulphur dioxide and sulphites | Dried fruits, meat products, soft drinks, wine and beer (above 10 mg/kg or per litre) |
For restaurants and cafes serving non-prepacked food, which is food prepared fresh to order, you must provide allergen information either in writing on the menu or via a clearly signposted written reference document.
Since March 2025, the FSA has updated its best practice guidance to push businesses firmly towards written allergen information rather than relying solely on verbal communication at point of sale. While technically guidance rather than law, environmental health officers increasingly treat this as a compliance benchmark during inspections.
Since April 2022, the Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021 have required qualifying businesses to display calorie information at the point of choice. As of 2026, these requirements remain in force and are actively enforced.
The calorie labelling rules currently apply to businesses with 250 or more employees operating in the out-of-home food sector in England. This includes:
Qualifying businesses must display the calorific content of each food item at the point of choice, whether that is on a printed menu, an electronic display, a blackboard, or a self-service counter. The calorie count must reference the relevant portion size. For variable items such as build-your-own meals, a calorie range or average value is acceptable.
Temporary menu items available for fewer than 30 days per year are exempt, as are special requests and bespoke off-menu orders. The Government has committed to reviewing the 2026 regulations with a view to potentially extending calorie labelling requirements to smaller businesses. Non-compliance can result in fines of up to 2,500 pounds, following an initial improvement notice.
If your business produces or sells fully prepacked food, meaning food that is packaged before it reaches the point of sale and is not opened or altered before purchase, you are subject to a broader set of mandatory labelling requirements under the retained FIC Regulations.
A fully compliant label for prepacked food must include:
The nutrition declaration must be presented in a specific tabular format and include energy value in kilojoules and kilocalories, together with the amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein, and salt. This requirement has been mandatory for prepacked foods since December 2016 and remains unchanged.
Getting these labels right requires both technical knowledge and practical systems. Our team works directly with food producers to review existing labels, identify gaps, and ensure that everything from ingredient declarations to font size meets regulatory standards.
From 2026, the UK is implementing tougher restrictions on high fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) food products under the Health and Care Act 2022. These regulations affect how certain products can be promoted and advertised, particularly in out-of-home food settings.
The restrictions target 13 specific product categories that meet a defined nutritional threshold. Many dishes commonly served in restaurants, cafes, and pubs fall outside these categories entirely.
However, if your business actively promotes products that qualify as less healthy under the two-part nutritional test set out in the 2024 Regulations, you will need to review how those products are featured in your marketing.
From 1 October 2025, qualifying food businesses in England can no longer offer free refills of sugary soft drinks as part of promotions under the HFSS regulations. Sugar-free or non-HFSS drinks are not affected. Scotland is expected to follow with equivalent measures.
Even well-intentioned businesses can fall foul of labelling regulations. The most frequent issues our consultants encounter include:
Many of these errors arise not from negligence but from a lack of awareness or from systems that have not kept pace with regulatory changes. A structured compliance audit can identify these gaps before an environmental health inspection does.
Use this as a quick self-check before your next inspection:
We also offer food safety training programmes accredited by CIEH, covering everything from Level 1 introductory food hygiene to Level 3 and Level 4 programmes for managers and supervisors. Whether your team is just starting out or needs to deepen its understanding of HACCP and food safety management systems, we have a programme to match.
We understand that running a food business is demanding, and compliance can feel like an additional burden on top of everything else. Our job is to make it manageable. We translate complex regulations into straightforward action plans, so you can focus on what you do best, which is serving great food with confidence.
We have built our reputation helping food businesses across London, Surrey, Kent, and Buckinghamshire navigate food safety and labelling compliance. Our services include:
Running a food business is demanding enough without chasing regulation changes. We turn the legislation into a clear action plan so you can focus on the food.
Contact us today for a consultation.
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