Glossary

Cross-contact

Cross-contact is when an allergen reaches a food even though it is not part of the recipe — from a shared fryer, a scoop or a bench. It is not the same as an ingredient, and a “may contain” line does not replace the ingredients list.

Reviewed 23 September 2026 against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.

In practice

The Food Standards Agency treats precautionary allergen labelling as a separate decision from declaring ingredients. If milk, wheat or nuts are in the recipe, they are emphasised in the ingredients list. If they might only be present because of how you work, that is a cross-contact question, and a “may contain” statement is voluntary and should be based on a real risk, not a habit.

On a PPDS pack, get the ingredients list right first. Then decide, with your process in mind, whether a precautionary statement is honest. Do not use it to cover a recipe you have not checked.

Questions

Is cross-contact the same as an ingredient?

No. Ingredients are deliberate. Cross-contact is unintended. Deliberate allergens are emphasised in the list.

Does “may contain” satisfy Natasha’s Law?

No. PPDS food still needs the name of the food and a full ingredients list with allergens emphasised.

Official sources

Everything on this page traces back to these. Where they and we disagree, they are right — tell us and we'll fix it.

Introduction to allergen labelling for PPDS foodFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK
Labelling guidance for prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food productsFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK