Main 14 allergens and what you must declare

The “main 14 allergens” are the 14 foods UK law requires you to declare when they are used as ingredients. They are also called the 14 major allergens, the 14 food allergens UK kitchens work from, or simply allergens 14. Same list. Same job: name them in writing, then talk to the customer.

If you run an independent café, pub, takeaway, restaurant, bakery or food truck, this is the list behind every dish. Not every food that can cause a reaction. The 14 the regulations pick out.

You stay responsible for the allergen information you give. A tool can help you record and publish it. It cannot tell anyone what they can eat, and it does not replace a conversation.

What “main” means in the law

The 14 come from Annex II of retained Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. In England the duty sits in the Food Information Regulations 2014. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own regulations covering the same 14 allergens (WSI 2014/2303, SSI 2014/312, NISR 2014/223).

“Main” does not mean “the only things people react to”. It means these 14 must be emphasised when they are ingredients. If a recipe contains milk, you declare milk. If it contains kiwi, you are not under the same duty to highlight kiwi, but you still need to know it is there when someone asks.

The Food Standards Agency’s allergen guidance for food businesses is the official starting point. Fourteen also keeps a plain-English 14 allergens guide for busy kitchens.

The 14 allergens food list at the pass

Work from labels and recipes. Do not guess. This table is a memory aid, not a diagnosis, and it is not a list of dishes anyone can eat.

Allergen	Typical sources in a UK kitchen
Celery	Stock, soups, salads, some spice blends
Cereals containing gluten	Bread, flour, batter, pasta, wheat in soy sauce. Covers wheat (including spelt and khorasan), rye, barley and oats
Crustaceans	Prawns, crab, scampi, shrimp paste
Eggs	Mayonnaise, cakes, fresh pasta, glaze
Fish	Fish sauce, anchovy in Worcestershire sauce, some stocks
Lupin	Some flours, pastries and meat-free products
Milk	Butter, cheese, cream, chocolate, some sliced bread
Molluscs	Mussels, squid, oyster sauce
Mustard	Mayonnaise, dressings, sausages, some curries
Nuts	Pesto, desserts, toppings. Almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, pecan, Brazil, pistachio and macadamia (Queensland) nuts
Peanuts	Satay, some sauces and oils. Separate from the nuts above
Sesame	Burger buns, hummus, oils, salad sprinkle
Soya	Many sliced breads, tofu, sauces, some vegetable oils
Sulphur dioxide and sulphites	Wine, dried fruit, some sausages and pickles, when more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre

Sulphites have a threshold: more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre in Annex II. If the packet says sulphites, treat it as one of the 14.

Peanuts and nuts are two lines. Sesame is its own line. For gluten-containing cereals, know which cereal it was when a customer asks.

Where the 14 hide on a normal Monday

The list of 14 allergens is short. The ways they get into a dish are not.

Soya flour is in a lot of sliced bread. Untick it only if your label does not list it. Celery turns up in stock and in “vegetable” seasoning. Mustard hides in mayonnaise and in house dressing. Wheat hides in soy sauce on a stir fry that never looked like bread. Anchovy hides in Worcestershire sauce. Sulphites hide in dried fruit on a salad. Lupin is less common, then it appears in a new meat-free sausage.

Shared kit matters too. A fryer used for scampi and chips. A buttered grill. A knife that sliced ciabatta then tomatoes. Ingredients from the 14 must be declared. A “may contain” is your note about how you cook, not a way to skip the recipe. Write it down if you use it. Do not use it as a blanket.

What you do not declare the same way

Garlic, pea protein, kiwi, strawberry and pine nuts are not on the 14 main allergens list. Pine nuts are not one of the eight nuts the law names. You still answer a customer who asks. Your written information is built around the 14.

Never print “allergen-free”. Never mark a dish safe. You cannot know another person’s reaction.

Writing it down, then talking

For non-prepacked food (the counter, the table, the specials board), you must make allergen information available. The Food Standards Agency’s best-practice guidance for non-prepacked food (February 2025) says that information should be available in writing and backed up by a conversation. If you give it digitally, such as through a QR code, you should also have a non-digital alternative. The detail sits in the FSA allergen guidance for food businesses.

A phone menu on its own is not enough. Keep a printed matrix or equivalent that matches the QR, and a sign that tells people to ask a member of staff before they order.

Food Standards Scotland publishes separate guidance for Scotland. The FSA’s guidance covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A wrap filled and sealed on site is prepacked for direct sale (PPDS). The PPDS rule has applied since 1 October 2021: the wrap needs a name and a full ingredients list with the 14 emphasised. That is a separate labelling job, still using the same 14.

One record for every format

Most problems are not a missing poster of the 14. They are three copies that disagree: a matrix behind the till, a delivery-app box, and a weekend special that never got added.

Fourteen helps you keep the 14 allergens in one place. You record each ingredient once. Tick what goes into a dish and the allergens add themselves up. Add a “may contain” for a shared fryer in one tap. The QR allergen menu, printable allergen matrix and counter sign then follow from those records.

Most venues set themselves up in about ten minutes. Around 200 everyday ingredients arrive already tagged. Building and previewing is free, with no card. You remain responsible for matching your library to your suppliers’ labels. Fourteen never marks any dish safe.

Monday morning, in order

1. Take this week’s menu, including specials and sides.
2. For each dish, write every ingredient from the packet or the recipe, not from memory.
3. Tick any of the 14 on each label, including soya in bread, celery in stock, mustard in mayonnaise and sulphites in dried fruit or wine.
4. Note shared oil, fryers and prep areas if you use a “may contain” statement.
5. Put it in writing for staff, and for any customer who will not scan a QR code.
6. Brief the team: if someone mentions an allergy, stop, check the written record, and speak to them before food is prepared.
7. When a supplier or a recipe changes, change the record the same day.

If that still lives in a folder and a group chat, move the ingredients into one library so the menu and the matrix cannot drift.

Put the 14 on one list, then keep it

The 14 major allergens are stable. Your specials are not. The work is keeping every dish honest against that list, in writing, and still having the conversation.

Fourteen records the 14 allergens for independent UK food businesses and publishes them so the QR menu, the matrix and the counter sign agree. Starter is £9 a month or Pro £19 a month. Build free, then use the 14-day free trial when you go live.

See plans and start on the pricing page