Guide
How to deal with missing supplier allergen information
Do not guess. Hold the ingredient out of PPDS production until you have a clear ingredients list and allergen information from the supplier or an alternative product with a complete specification.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The short answer
Do not guess. Hold the ingredient out of PPDS production until you have a clear ingredients list and allergen information from the supplier or an alternative product with a complete specification.
Control masters, reprint when recipes change, and train staff not to improvise labels. Process beats memory on a busy service.
How to apply it
Do not guess. Hold the ingredient out of PPDS production until you have a clear ingredients list and allergen information from the supplier or an alternative product with a complete specification. Control masters, reprint when recipes change, and train staff not to improvise labels. Process beats memory on a busy service. Walk the product in front of you against the checklist below before you print. The mistake to refuse is: Different brand, different recipe.
- Quarantine unmarked deliveries
- Request a full specification in writing
- Do not sell PPDS food built on guesswork
- Switch supplier if they cannot provide information
Worked example
Worked example for “How to deal with missing supplier allergen information”: take one real SKU you sell this week. Apply the first check — quarantine unmarked deliveries. Then contrast it with request a full specification in writing. Write the name of the food and the full ingredients list from today’s recipe and supplier specs, emphasise every Annex II allergen each time it appears, and only then print. If the pack in your hand does not match that list, it is not ready for sale. (Do not guess.)
Checklist before you print
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Quarantine unmarked deliveries | For “How to deal with missing supplier allergen information”, “Quarantine unmarked deliveries” is the check that stops the pack drifting from what you actually sell. |
| Request a full specification in writing | For “How to deal with missing supplier allergen information”, “Request a full specification in writing” is the check that stops the pack drifting from what you actually sell. |
| Do not sell PPDS food built on guesswork | For “How to deal with missing supplier allergen information”, “Do not sell PPDS food built on guesswork” is the check that stops the pack drifting from what you actually sell. |
| Switch supplier if they cannot provide information | For “How to deal with missing supplier allergen information”, “Switch supplier if they cannot provide information” is the check that stops the pack drifting from what you actually sell. |
Using last year’s spec for a new brand
Different brand, different recipe.
Go deeper
Next: Supplier changes. Controls that keep packs honest. Then paste your ingredients into the free generator and confirm allergens before you print.
Questions
Can I sell it with “may contain all 14”?
What if the market stall supplier has no paperwork?
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
- Food allergen labelling and information requirements technical guidanceFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK
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