In December last year the food labeling laws changed to help the ever increasing number of allergy sufferers. It requires businesses selling food or drink to let customers know the full list of allergens in their products by law.
The information must be available to the customer in the form of a menu, notice board, on a website or orally, requiring employees to be knowledgeable of the presence of 14 different identified types of allergens.
This is a wise move for food labeling laws as knowing about the presence of allergens is important to a lot of people. Around 4,500 people are submitted to hospital each year due to allergic reactions, which can have severe consequences for not only the customer but the businesses at fault if the product isn’t labeled correctly.
Failure to comply with the requirements could result in the company facing criminal prosecution, a large fine and potentially causing serious harm to their customers.
