What you tell customers about a dish depends on what is in its ingredients. That is why the kitchen starts by reading the labels of what it buys.
- In the list of ingredients, allergens are emphasised with a different font, style or background colour (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Article 21(1)(b)).
- If the product has no list of ingredients, the label says «contains» followed by the allergen.
- If several ingredients come from the same allergen, it is shown for each one.
- Watch out for what does not look like an allergen: a stock, a sauce, a seasoning or breadcrumbs may contain celery, mustard, soya, milk, egg, gluten or sulphites.
When the brand or recipe changes
The same sauce from two different brands can contain different allergens. If you change an ingredient, a supplier or a brand, read the label again and update the dish sheet before serving it.
In practiceThe supplier brings a different brand of mayonnaise because the usual one is out of
stock. You read the label: this one contains mustard. You update the sheets for the three dishes that use it and tell the floor
staff.
Source: Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, Article 21 and Annex II · AESAN: labelling of substances causing allergies and intolerances (in Spanish)