The 14 allergens: what a pub has to tell customers, food and bar, with a free allergen matrix

The 14 allergens are celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soya, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (above 10mg per kg or litre) and tree nuts. Every pub that serves food or drink has to be able to tell a customer which of those are in anything it sells, whether that's a roast dinner, a Bloody Mary or a packet of nuts behind the bar.

Most allergen guides stop at the kitchen door. That's the bit everyone already knows about. The bit nobody talks about is the bar, where a single cocktail can carry four of the 14 and the person making it has never been asked to check. So this covers both, with the exemptions that actually matter for drinks, the rules for food that isn't packaged, and a free matrix you can print and fill in.

Free download: pub allergen matrix (Excel). Food on one tab, drinks on the other, all 14 allergens across the top, and space to sign off who checked it and when. No email, no sign-up.

The 14 allergens, and where they hide in a pub

The list comes from Annex II of the food information regulation the UK kept after Brexit, and the FSA's guidance for food businesses repeats it word for word. The right-hand column is mine: where each one turns up in an ordinary pub, food and bar.

Allergen	What it covers	Where it hides in a pub
Celery	Stalks, leaves, seeds, celeriac	Stock, gravy, soup, celery salt on a Bloody Mary rim
Cereals containing gluten	Wheat, rye, barley, oats	Batter, gravy, pastry, breadcrumbs, beer, malt vinegar
Crustaceans	Prawns, crab, lobster	Prawn cocktail, scampi, seafood sauces
Eggs	Eggs and egg products	Mayonnaise, batter, Yorkshires, egg white in sours
Fish	All fish	Fish and chips, Caesar dressing, Worcestershire sauce
Lupin	Lupin seeds and flour	Some bread and pastry flour (check the bag)
Milk	Milk and lactose	Butter, cheese, cream sauces, cream liqueurs
Molluscs	Mussels, oysters, squid	Moules, calamari, oyster sauce
Mustard	Seeds, powder, leaves	Dressings, glazes, sausages, ham, the pot on the table
Peanuts	Peanuts and peanut products	Bar snacks, satay, some curries
Sesame	Seeds and oil	Burger buns, dressings
Soya	Beans, flour, tofu, soy sauce	Marinades, vegan products, some bread
Sulphur dioxide and sulphites	Above 10mg/kg or 10mg/litre	Wine, many ciders, dried fruit, some soft drinks and cordials
Tree nuts	Almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, brazils, pistachios, macadamias	Desserts, pesto, nut liqueurs, garnishes

What the law asks of a pub

For food that isn't pre-packed (which is almost everything a pub sells over the counter), the rules in England are the Food Information Regulations 2014. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own regulations doing the same job. Three things matter.

You must have the information for everything you sell that contains any of the 14. Not most things. Every item, including drinks and bar snacks.

You can give it by word of mouth, but only with a sign. The regulations let you give allergen information any way you like, including orally, as long as there's a notice, menu or label the customer can easily see saying they can ask a member of staff. If you rely on staff telling people, that sign isn't optional.

Pre-wrapped food you make yourself needs a full label. Since 1 October 2021, food packed on the premises before a customer orders it (a sandwich wrapped in the morning and put in the fridge, say) needs the name of the food and a full ingredients list with the allergens emphasised. That's the rule people know as Natasha's Law. If you wrap a cheese toastie only when it's ordered, it isn't pre-packed.

The FSA went further in February 2025 with best practice guidance for non-prepacked food. It isn't law, and the guidance says so, but it recommends allergen information written down and backed up by a conversation. Its own research, published in October 2025, found 87% of people with a food hypersensitivity trusted written information against 75% for verbal, and 42% had reacted to non-prepacked food in the previous six months. My view: do both. A matrix on the bar and a staff member who'll check it is the version that protects the customer and you.

The bar: the exemptions nobody explains

This is where most pubs go quiet, because drinks don't come with an ingredients list. Under the rules, drinks over 1.2% alcohol don't need one on the label. But that doesn't take them out of the allergen rules. If a drink contains one of the 14, you still have to be able to say so.

Annex II helps in three places, and they're worth knowing because they stop staff guessing wrong in both directions:

• Spirits made from grain don't count as gluten. The regulation exempts "cereals used for making alcoholic distillates including ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin". Whisky, grain vodka and gin distilled from wheat or barley aren't declared as gluten. Beer is a different matter. It's brewed, not distilled, so a barley or wheat beer contains gluten.
• Isinglass finings don't count as fish. The fish entry exempts fish gelatine or isinglass used as a fining agent in beer and wine. So a cask ale fined with isinglass isn't declared as fish under the allergen rules. (Vegetarians and vegans will still want to know, which is a different question.)
• Whey used to make spirits doesn't count as milk. Same idea, same Annex.

And two places where drinks do carry an allergen:

• Sulphites in wine and a lot of cider. Above 10mg per litre it has to be declared, and it's on most wine labels as "contains sulphites". Check your cider and any cordials on the label.
• Egg and milk fining in wine. Wine labelled after 30 June 2012 that was fined with egg or milk has to declare it where it can still be detected in the finished wine. If the label says "contains egg" or "contains milk", that goes on your matrix.

The Bloody Mary test

Here's the idea I'd add, because I've never seen anyone write it down. Make a Bloody Mary on paper and count. Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce lists malt vinegar from barley and anchovies, so that's gluten and fish. A celery salt rim and a stick of celery is celery. Some tomato juices and mixes add more. That's three or four of the 14 in one glass, made by whoever was on the bar that night, with no menu description at all.

Do the same with your other mixed drinks. A sour shaken with egg white is egg. A cream liqueur is milk (Baileys lists milk on the bottle). Anything with a nut liqueur or a nut garnish needs checking against the bottle. Once you've done it for your top ten mixed drinks, you've done the bar.

Five places pubs slip up

1. The specials board. A dish that's on for three days still needs its allergens recorded. Fill in the matrix line before it goes on the board, not after someone asks.
2. Substitutions on the delivery. When the wholesaler sends a different brand of mayo, gravy granules or bread because yours was out of stock, the allergens can change. Check the label of anything substituted when you check the delivery note in, and update the matrix the same day.
3. The Christmas menu. New dishes, new suppliers, temporary staff, and the busiest weeks of the year. Do the matrix for the whole menu before the first party is booked in. My Christmas menu pricing guide covers the costing side.
4. Bar snacks. Peanuts, flavoured crisps, pork scratchings and mixed nuts all go on the drinks tab. Check the packet, since flavourings often bring in milk, mustard or celery.
5. "I'll ask the chef." Fine if the chef's in. At 9pm on a Sunday when the kitchen's closed and the bar's selling crisps and toasties, the answer has to be on paper.

How to fill the matrix in, in an afternoon

1. List every item you sell. Menu dishes, specials, sides, sauces, desserts, bar snacks, and mixed drinks. Straight pours of spirits and draught beer can go in as one line each by type.
2. Work from labels, not memory. For each ingredient, read the allergen statement on the packet or the supplier's spec sheet. Keep the spec sheets in a folder with the matrix.
3. Tick the 14 across the top. One tick per allergen present. If you can't confirm something, find out before the dish goes on sale.
4. Sign and date it. The download has a box for who checked it and when. Re-check whenever a recipe, a supplier or a brand changes.
5. Tell the team where it is. On the bar, in the kitchen, and on the induction checklist. The sign that says "ask a member of staff" only works if every member of staff knows what to do next.

If a customer tells you about an allergy and you can't be sure a dish or drink is free of it, say so. "I can't guarantee that one" is a better answer than a guess.

What happens if you get it wrong

Environmental health can serve an improvement notice, and you have 14 days to appeal one. Failing to comply with the allergen requirements is a criminal offence, and the FSA's technical guidance describes the fine as potentially unlimited. Allergen information also comes up on a food hygiene inspection, which feeds your rating. My food hygiene rating guide has the inspection folder I'd keep, and the allergen matrix belongs at the front of it.

There's a trade side too. The FSA's 2024 prevalence study estimated around 6% of UK adults, about 2.4 million people, have a clinically confirmed food allergy. In my experience the person with the allergy often picks where the whole table eats. A group of ten that chooses you because your staff answered one question properly is a decent night's trade.

This is a licensee's plain-English reading of the rules, not legal advice. Your local environmental health team is the place to check anything specific to your kitchen.

Common questions

What are the 14 allergens?

Celery, cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats), crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soya, sulphur dioxide and sulphites above 10mg per kg or litre, and tree nuts. They come from Annex II of the food information regulation the UK retained.

Do pubs have to give allergen information for drinks?

Yes. Drinks over 1.2% alcohol don't need an ingredients list on the label, but a pub still has to be able to tell customers if a drink contains any of the 14 allergens, such as sulphites in wine, gluten in beer, milk in cream liqueurs or egg white in a sour.

Is gin or whisky gluten under the allergen rules?

No. Annex II exempts cereals used for making alcoholic distillates, so spirits distilled from wheat or barley aren't declared as gluten. Beer is brewed rather than distilled, so a barley or wheat beer does contain gluten.

Can a pub give allergen information verbally?

Yes, for food that isn't pre-packed, as long as there's a clearly visible notice, menu or label saying customers can ask a member of staff. The FSA's 2025 best practice guidance recommends written information backed by a conversation.

What is the penalty for getting allergen information wrong?

Environmental health can serve an improvement notice, with 14 days to appeal. Failing to meet the allergen requirements is a criminal offence and the FSA describes the fine as potentially unlimited.