UK Food Information Regulations | PPDS & Genesis Foods

Updated: February 2026

Since Oct. 1, 2021, all prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) foods in the UK must include on the product packaging a full list of ingredients with any allergens emphasised (in bold, italics, a different font style, or colour, etc.).

For Example:

Pears, Peaches, Grapes, Apples, Bananas, Whipped Topping (milk, soy), Walnuts.

Let's look at some of the history and more recent changes.

PPDS and beyond

The Food Information Amendment, also known as Natasha’s Law, was introduced in 2019. This revision came about after a young woman died from an anaphylactic reaction after consuming a prepacked sandwich that contained sesame seeds. Prior to this amendment, the 2014 Food Information Regulations required most food products to display allergen information, however, there was an exemption for prepacked foods that allowed them to be sold without allergen labelling.

The Food Information (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 brought the PPDS labelling requirements for Scotland in line with England as well as Wales and the Northern Ireland who’d both introduced amendments in 2020. .

Since April 2022, large food businesses in England (250+ employees) are also required to display calorie information for non-prepacked food.

In March 2025, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued new Best Practice Guidance that significantly raised the bar for non-prepacked foods as well as PPDS. The FSA "strongly encourages" that written allergen information be provided for all non-prepacked food (not just PPDS), rather than relying on an "ask us" conversation alone.

Local authorities and environmental health officers are now looking for a "written-first" approach supported by a conversation, rather than a conversation-only approach.

And further to this, there is an FSA-backed (since 2023) campaign for a law that would cover food ordered and served fresh, such as burgers or pasta in a restaurant to have allergens listed on the main menu and a full, written ingredient matrix for every dish. Owen’s Law (named after an 18 year old who suffered a fatal anaphylactic reaction) is under consultation.

PPDS questions we'll cover here:

• What qualifies as a PPDS food
• What allergens are required
• How to track and display allergens in Genesis Foods

What qualifies as a PPDS food?

PPDS foods are determined by when, where, and how the food was packaged.

• When: Before the consumer selects the food item.
• Where: At the same premises where it is sold to consumers or by the same food business but sold at a temporary site, such as a food cart.
• How: Fully or partially enclosed by the packaging and ready for final sale.

If you are unsure if your food meets the criteria, you can check with the decision tool found here.

What allergens are required for display in the UK?

1. Cereals containing gluten: wheat (such as spelt and Khorasan wheat), rye, barley, oats. (note: the cereal name - e.g ‘wheat’ - must be declared and highlighted)
2. Crustaceans: crabs, prawns, lobsters, etc.
3. Eggs
4. Fish
5. Peanuts
6. Soybeans
7. Milk
8. Nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio nuts, macadamia nuts (note: name of the nut - e.g. ‘almond’- must be declared and highlighted)
9. Celery
10. Mustard
11. Sesame Seeds
12. Sulphur Dioxide and sulphites (at concentrations of more than 10mg/kg or 10mg/L in terms of total sulphur dioxide) – used as a preservative
13. Lupin
14. Molluscs: mussels, oysters, squid, snails, etc.

How to use Genesis Foods to track and display allergens

It is of vital importance that you correctly document and indicate allergens in your foods. Ingredients default to having no allergens declared.  It is your responsibility to determine which allergens must be associated with each ingredient, based on documentation, testing, and any other research.

Your Recipes will use the allergen information entered at the Ingredient level to determine allergen content. In this example, we're looking at a Peanut Cookie for the UK/EU markets.

First, using the drag & drop editor (and help from AskReg Allergen Suggestions if you wish) you move allergens to the appropriate sections:

 Here Peanuts are added to the Contains column: 

Moving to the Recipe, here the example ingredient is added to this test recipe's formulation:

And the allergens filter up to the recipe's allergen statement showing the Allergens in the Contains section.   

Once verification is completed, the Allergen origins and Ingredients statement show how each of them are listed in the Recipe overview.

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