Allergen information is one of the few things on a food website where getting it wrong has consequences beyond a lost sale. It is also, handled well, a straightforward trust signal. The rules differ depending on how you sell, so this piece is about the website side, and about knowing where to check the rest.
Start with the official guidance
Requirements are not the same for a restaurant menu, food made to order, food packed on site for direct sale, and products shipped to a customer. The Food Standards Agency publishes guidance covering each, and your local authority environmental health team will advise on your specific setup. Get that straight first, because no amount of good web design fixes incorrect information.
Where the information belongs
On the thing itself. Somebody managing an allergy is looking at one dish or one product, and expecting them to find a separate allergen page, or worse a downloadable chart, is where most food websites fall down. Put it on the product page and on the menu item, in text rather than inside an image, so it can be read on a phone and by a screen reader.
Make it easy to scan
- List the allergens present, clearly labelled, rather than burying them in an ingredients paragraph.
- Use plain words alongside the formal ones.
- Keep it beside the item, not at the bottom of the page.
- Say when the information was last checked, particularly if recipes change.
Do not hide behind a disclaimer
A blanket line saying you cannot guarantee anything, offered instead of real information, reads as an instruction to shop elsewhere. If there is a genuine cross-contamination risk because of a shared kitchen, say that plainly and separately, alongside the actual allergen information rather than in place of it. Customers with allergies are loyal to businesses that take this seriously, because so few do.
The wider store side is covered in selling food and drink online.
The short version. Check the official guidance for how you actually sell, put allergen information on the item itself in readable text, keep it current, and never let a disclaimer stand in for the information.
More on the sector on our page for food and drink.
