In this blog, we'll look at the world of allergen labelling in Ireland, the challenges that hospitality operators face, and highlight how technology can lighten the load of your allergen labelling procedures. We’ll also share some top tips to help you safeguard your business and prioritise the wellbeing of your customers.

Key allergens and labelling compliance for Irish hospitality operators

Navigating the regulatory landscape of allergen labelling can appear complex and let’s face it, it’s time consuming for busy hospitality businesses.  However, it is essential for keeping people safe as well as protecting your business. The EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU FIC) requires that 14 specific allergens be clearly listed on food labels, to make sure that customers can make informed choices about the foods they eat. These allergens include ingredients that we are all familiar with such as gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, and nuts. Plus, less widely recognised ones like celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin, and molluscs.

But these allergens really need to stand out on menus and in the ingredients list, making them easy for customers to spot and identify. For foods that don’t come pre-packaged, this information needs to be available in writing or shared verbally, with clear instructions on where the customer can find it. They shouldn’t have to ask!

Understanding these regulations might seem off putting at first (there is a lot of information to absorb!), but they are vital for ensuring that customers feel safe when they eat food they haven’t prepared themself. Especially those customers with say for example, a severe nut allergy. If a restaurant doesn’t clearly label its food that contains nuts correctly, for that customer, it could potentially lead to a serious medical emergency. But, if the restaurant displays its allergen information clearly and communicates it through well-trained staff, then the customer can eat safely in the knowledge.

What key challenges do food businesses face?

Food businesses in Ireland can encounter various challenges when it comes to complying with regulatory requirements. Here are some of the common ones we hear them talk about:

1. Dealing with multiple ingredients: Identifying potential allergens in every dish can be like trying to solve a jigsaw. Take an Irish stew, for example—it's not just about the hearty and visible ingredients like the meat and potatoes. The broth, herbs, and other ingredients can also contain hidden allergens such as gluten or dairy. And that's even before the suggestion of adding Guinness! Then there are the times when the kitchen needs to update its allergens because the menu has some changes, or the chef has substituted an ingredient within an existing recipe. It’s hard to keep up, but keeping track of these ingredients and their allergen content is required to ensure the safety of all diners.

2. Managing cross contamination risks: In a busy hotel kitchen with a full restaurant menu, bar bites, and themed afternoon tea treats, preventing cross-contamination is like competing in the crystal maze. Contamination occurs when allergens from one dish unintentionally mix with another. For example, even a carefully prepared gluten-free meal can inadvertently pick up gluten traces from a cooking utensil or unwashed surface. That's why it's vital for kitchens to adhere to strict practices and ensure that all staff are well-trained to prevent mishaps (human error happens) and ensure the safety of all diners—no upset stomachs allowed!

3. Keeping up with changing regulations: Staying up to date with allergen labelling regulations can often feel like trying to return one of Novak Djokovic’s famous serves. These regulations move really quickly, making it essential (and sometimes impossible) to stay educated to ensure you are compliant and for the safety of your customers.

4. Ensuring full transparency from suppliers: Whilst you can ensure your own food allergen practices are compliant, you need to be sure you also get accurate allergen information from your suppliers. However, this isn't always as straightforward and can be challenging to enforce consistently. Suppliers can make mistakes too. A chef can order from a trusted supplier, however upon delivery it could be discovered that food, say an order of fresh fish, has been labelled shellfish-free incorrectly and was actually processed alongside shrimp, posing a potential allergen contamination risk.

How tech can make allergen labelling simpler for you

Technology can be an absolute game changer for your business. Think of how tech is working successfully in other areas of your business and how it can play a key role in improving allergen labelling. Unsure? Here's how:

• Tech makes labelling processes much easier to manage: What if you could effortlessly manage and label allergens in your kitchen through technology that not only handles the specifics of ingredients but also maintains up-to-date and accurate allergen information.
• Tech boosts the accuracy of your data: By standardising processes, automated systems take the guessing game away from identifying and labelling allergens. Nutritional analysis software seamlessly records data automatically. This not only enhances the safety of your operation but also keeps you in line with regulations and alleviates at least one stress associated with a fiery hot kitchen.
• Tech keeps track of your ingredients: Technology improves the traceability of your ingredients from your supplier to your customers plate by effectively managing allergens throughout the supply chain. This transparency is crucial for your customers, the more information you can provide them, the better!
• Tech helps manage suppliers more effectively: Procure Wizard facilitates the management of suppliers by verifying allergen information. Suppliers provide allergen details for each product directly through the software, which encourages responsible sourcing and compliance with allergen labelling regulations. For the kitchen, having precise and accurate information about each ingredient is needed for smooth kitchen operations and menu outcomes.

Let Access do the hard work for you

At Access Hospitality Ireland, we understand the challenges you face, we hear it from the industry all the time. Hence why our digital tools, including software for allergen and nutrition management, are designed to ease your operations and ensure you are ticking all the boxes to comply with allergen labelling regulations.

Procure Wizard is a unique solution for managing supplier information and automating allergen labelling. It ensures that all ingredients and dishes are labelled accurately, helping you stay on top of regulatory standards and safeguard your customers.

It makes processes much easier to manage by keeping all data in a centralised database and automatically updates ingredient and allergen information whenever a supplier makes a change, ensuring the kitchen always receive accurate and current allergen details, delivering consistency across all dishes, enhancing compliance and improving overall customer safety.

Here are our practical steps to improve allergen labelling in your business

1. Implement comprehensive training programmes: Ensure all your staff are well-trained in allergen management and understand the importance of accurate labelling and communication. Regular training will keep everyone informed about the latest regulations, best practice and business changes

2. Utilise technology effectively: Investing in tools like Procure Wizard to automate and enhance your allergen labelling processes, will bring a huge sense of relief to your management and teams. This investment can relieve huge pressures from the kitchen and staff. It can also save time, reduce errors, and improve compliance.

3. Maintain clear communication: By clearly communicating allergen information to customers both in writing and verbally, you are offering your business the best chance of surviving an emergency. It’s imperative that your staff are knowledgeable and able to confidently provide allergen information when asked questions from customers such as, "Is this cake gluten-free?"

4. Regularly review and update practices: If your team is informed about changes in allergen labelling regulations, they will bring much more creativity and new menu items to the table. With regular audits of your labelling processes, you can ensure ongoing compliance and reassurance that you are doing all you can to enhance your operations and protect your business, your staff and your customers. It’s win, win!

Are you looking to ease the pressure pot from your kitchen?

In this blog we looked at the importance of allergen labelling, customer safety and the ups and why hospitality businesses must be compliant with regulations.

At Access Hospitality Ireland, we’re dedicated to helping you to navigate the complexities of allergen labelling. Our proven solutions can streamline your allergen processes, keep everything more accurate and compliant and above all offer you peace of mind that your business is in the hands of experts.

If you’re ready to take a look at how you can improve your allergen labelling practices, contact us today for a personalised consultation and see how we can help your business. Visit Access Hospitality Ireland to get started.