Allergens in a digital menu: the 14 EU allergens and how to show them clearly

What the law says, in short

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers lists, in Annex II, 14 categories of substances that cause allergies or intolerances. Information about their presence must be made available to the consumer for non-prepacked food as well, such as dishes served in a restaurant. The exact form (menu, notice, verbal information) can be set by national rules, so also check the requirements of the authority in your country.

The 14 allergens

1. Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut) and products thereof
2. Crustaceans
3. Eggs
4. Fish
5. Peanuts
6. Soybeans
7. Milk (including lactose)
8. Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts)
9. Celery
10. Mustard
11. Sesame seeds
12. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at concentrations of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre)
13. Lupin
14. Molluscs

How to show them in a digital menu

• On every product, not only in a general list at the end. Guests look at the dish they chose.
• With names, not only icons or numbers. Icons help, but “Milk” is clear to anyone, “7” is not.
• Separate from ingredients: the ingredient list can be long; allergens must stand out.
• In the guest’s language: a bilingual menu helps tourists, especially for allergens.
• Up to date: when you change a recipe or a supplier, update the allergens too. In a digital menu the change shows immediately, with no reprinting.

In Menu3D every product has fields for ingredients and for the 14 allergens, shown as clear labels on the dish sheet, in Romanian and English. Diet labels (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free, spicy) are kept separate from allergens.

Common mistakes

• allergens only “on request”, with no note in the menu that the information is available;
• an old printed menu with recipes that have changed since;
• confusing “gluten-free” (a diet label) with the allergen list;
• forgetting sulphites in wine, dried fruit or some sauces;
• no note on cross-contamination where the risk exists.

Allergens and the QR menu

A well-made QR menu has a clear advantage: the information is always current and guests read it at their own pace. If the menu also has 3D dishes, guests see in the same sheet both what the dish looks like and what it contains.