Guide
Natasha’s Law and distance selling
When PPDS-style food is ordered remotely and collected or delivered, allergen information must still reach the customer. FSA distance-selling guidance explains when information is needed before purchase and how pack labelling interacts with online or phone orders — do not assume a website menu alone replaces a pack label on PPDS food.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
Two layers of information
Distance selling often needs allergen information before the customer commits to buy, plus whatever must appear on the food when it is supplied. A click-and-collect brownie that was packed in your kitchen before selection still needs a proper ingredients list on the pack when it is handed over.
Common business models
- Website orders collected from the same café — pack labels still required for prepacked items
- Phone orders for preboxed cakes — label the box; confirm allergens when taking the order
- Marketplace or courier delivery — clarify who is the food business operator and whose label applies
What to do this week
- Map each sales channel: in-person, phone, web, apps
- For each PPDS product, ensure the pack label is complete
- Publish or provide allergen information at the pre-order stage where distance rules require it
Guidance
Read the FSA materials on allergen information for distance selling alongside PPDS labelling guidance — they work together.
Questions
Does a PDF menu on my website meet pack labelling?
What if a courier packs the order?
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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