Meeting Natasha’s Law allergen identification requirements

Meeting Natasha’s Law allergen identification requirements

‘Natasha’s Law is probably one the biggest and most important legislative amendments to affect direct sale food retailers in years. The implementation of an efficient and cost-effective allergen labelling system represents a significant challenge for many large chains. With trusted partners though, you’ll have every confidence that it can be achieved.’  

Allergen Labelling

THE CUSTOMER

Our customer is a food-on-the-go retailer with outlets country wide. They prepare and sell a wide variety of hot and cold snacks, meals and drinks.

Their service covers in-store purchases, click and collect, as well as a fast-growing delivery service to local homes and offices.

THE CUSTOMER’S CHALLENGE

The UK Food Information Amendment, also known as Natasha’s Law after the teenager who tragically died following a severe allergic reaction to a pre-prepared sandwich, takes effect in October 2021. The legislation is aimed at companies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland offering food prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) to consumers.

All PPDS food items must be clearly labelled with the name of the food, plus a full ingredients list with allergens marked in bold type.

In order to meet the required legislation, our customer, having sourced label printers and software, needed a label that would function well across their entire prepared food range.

OUR APPROACH

Since Piroto have worked on many allergen labelling systems with multiple applications, our customer gave us the brief.

We discussed all the functions the Natasha’s Law labels would need to meet. In summary, the labels would need to:

  • adhere to multiple types of flexible food packaging, from cups to paper bags
  • withstand heat up to 90 degrees without discolouring
  • print well using the customer’s preferred direct thermal printers
  • remain legible following contact with grease and hot liquid
  • serve as a seal for some food packaging
  • remain functional at cold temperatures
  • be cost effective.

With this set of criteria, our technical team specified a number of suitable label materials and adhesive combinations that they felt would meet all the specifications.

WHAT WE DELIVERED

We trialled a number of direct thermal label materials in a controlled test to see which substrate performed the best.

Working closely with our customer to balance quality, functionality and cost, we agreed on the best label material, then produced a trial quantity of labels which were further tested instore.

The roll-out of the new allergen labelling system at scale is a huge logistical undertaking for our customer, we therefore agreed a plan for controlled distribution across a small number of outlets in advance of the full roll-out. This included agreed carton sizes and special delivery arrangements, with an emergency backup supply contingency, to ensure everything ran smoothly

THE IMPACT ON THE CUSTOMER’S BUSINESS

By calling on Piroto’s experience in allergen labelling, our customer has been able to implement an extensive new system ahead of the UK Food Information Amendment deadline. They have specifically benefited from:

  • direct thermal labels that work well with their preferred printers, giving staff the confidence to print allergen labels quickly and easily without slowing them up
  • labels that will function across all types of PPDS food packaging to keep the system easy and simple to operate
  • a cost effective solution that meets all the legislative requirements and helps keep consumers safe
  • customised roll per carton quantities to ensure correct stock levels for each outlet
  • a controlled roll-out across the branches to ensure everything is in place in advance of the legislative deadline.