Guide
What happens if my PPDS label is wrong?
Remove affected packs from sale, correct the master list, reprint, and follow your incident procedures. Your local authority may advise or require improvements. Accurate labelling is your responsibility as the food business operator.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The short answer
Remove affected packs from sale, correct the master list, reprint, and follow your incident procedures. Your local authority may advise or require improvements. Accurate labelling is your responsibility as the food business operator.
Use the Food Standards Agency PPDS materials on GOV.UK for the core duty, then confirm awkward cases with your local authority.
How to apply it
Remove affected packs from sale, correct the master list, reprint, and follow your incident procedures. Your local authority may advise or require improvements. Accurate labelling is your responsibility as the food business operator. Use the Food Standards Agency PPDS materials on GOV.UK for the core duty, then confirm awkward cases with your local authority. Walk the product in front of you against the checklist below before you print. The mistake to refuse is: Fix it — allergens are a safety issue.
- Stop sale of affected packs
- Correct and reprint
- Record the incident
- Seek council advice for serious cases
Worked example
Worked example for “What happens if my PPDS label is wrong?”: take one real SKU you sell this week. Apply the first check — stop sale of affected packs. Then contrast it with correct and reprint. 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. (Remove affected packs from sale, correct the master list, reprint, and follow your incident procedures.)
Checklist before you print
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Stop sale of affected packs | For “What happens if my PPDS label is wrong?”, “Stop sale of affected packs” is the check that stops the pack drifting from what you actually sell. |
| Correct and reprint | For “What happens if my PPDS label is wrong?”, “Correct and reprint” is the check that stops the pack drifting from what you actually sell. |
| Record the incident | For “What happens if my PPDS label is wrong?”, “Record the incident” is the check that stops the pack drifting from what you actually sell. |
| Seek council advice for serious cases | For “What happens if my PPDS label is wrong?”, “Seek council advice for serious cases” is the check that stops the pack drifting from what you actually sell. |
Hoping nobody notices
Fix it — allergens are a safety issue.
Go deeper
Next: Who enforces Natasha’s Law?. How councils work with businesses. Then paste your ingredients into the free generator and confirm allergens before you print.
Questions
Do I automatically get fined?
Should I keep selling with a verbal warning?
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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