We know your focus is on making and selling great ice cream or other food – not on navigating food safety regulations, health and safety compliance and HR headaches. That’s where we come in. We’ve put this guide together specifically for ice cream producers and sellers to help you understand your obligations under Natasha’s Law, what to do from a health and safety perspective to stay compliant, and how to handle it from an HR perspective when an employee gets it wrong.
The Background – Why Natasha’s Law Exists
On 17 July 2016 Natasha Ednan-Laperouse bought a baguette from a Pret a Manger store. Natasha was allergic to sesame but due to inadequate labelling, was unaware that the baguette she bought had sesame baked into the bread. Sadly, she died later that day from an allergic reaction. Natasha’s parents petitioned for a change in the law to ensure that those who suffer from allergies can safely shop for and eat pre-packaged food. The UK Food Information (Amendment) Regulations 2019, better known as Natasha’s Law, came into force on 1 October 2021. Although the law is vital for the protection of those with allergies, it places additional burdens on food producers, retailers and their staff. For ice cream businesses – whether you are a manufacturer, a parlour, a van operator or a wholesaler – the law is directly relevant to you. Many ice cream products contain one or more of the 14 prescribed allergens, and how you label, communicate and manage that information is your legal responsibility.
What Does Natasha’s Law Mean for My Business?
Any business which produces or packages food must comply with the legislation to ensure all food is properly labelled to identify any of the 14 prescribed allergens:
- Celery
- Cereals containing gluten
- Crustaceans
- Eggs
- Fish
- Lupin
- Milk
- Molluscs
- Mustard
- Peanuts
- Sesame
- Soybeans
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphates
- Tree nuts
For ice cream businesses, the most commonly encountered allergens will be milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, soybeans and cereals containing gluten – but depending on your recipes and ingredients, others may apply. Your obligation to label will vary depending upon the type of food being sold.
Why does this particularly matter for ice cream?
Ice cream presents specific allergen risks that many other food products do not. Cross-contamination is a real concern where multiple flavours are produced in the same facility or scooped from adjacent tubs. Ingredients such as nut pastes, cookie doughs, brownie pieces and sauce swirls can introduce allergens that are not obvious from the name of the product alone. And where ice cream is served loose – scooped into a cone or cup – the allergen information needs to be communicated to the customer at the point of sale. Business owners are completely reliant on their staff properly labelling produce and communicating allergen information to ensure that legal obligations under Natasha’s Law are met. Business owners can be vicariously liable for omissions and mistakes made by their employees and could be at fault for mis-labelling.
What about “free-from” ice cream?
There has been a huge increase in free-from, dairy-free and vegan ice cream products. Businesses should be aware that a “free-from” claim is a guarantee that the food is suitable for those with the relevant allergy or intolerance. If the risk of cross-contamination cannot be completely removed in your production or preparation areas, you may not be able to make a free-from claim. The Food and Drink Federation have created specific guidance on when free-from claims can and cannot be made.
How Should You Provide Allergen Information?
The rules depend on how you sell your product:
Pre-packaged ice cream (PPDS)
Where ice cream is prepared and packaged on the same premises before being offered for sale – for example, tubs filled and sealed in your production kitchen and placed in a display freezer – it is classed as prepacked for direct sale (PPDS). The packaging must include the name of the product and a full ingredients list with the 14 allergens clearly emphasised, for example in bold.
Loose or scooped ice cream
Where ice cream is sold loose – scooped from a tub at a counter, served from a van, or dished up in a parlour – full allergen information must be available. This can be provided on a menu, on signage near the point of sale, or in an information pack. A written notice can also be displayed telling customers where and how they can access the information. Allergen information can be given verbally as part of a conversation, but it is always recommended that this is backed up in writing.
NEW FOR 2025: In March 2025, the Food Standards Agency updated its guidance to encourage the out-of-home sector to provide written allergen information for non-prepacked (loose) foods, so that customers can access it without having to ask. This is a clear signal of the direction of travel – businesses should be moving towards making allergen information visible, accessible and written as standard.
Distance selling (online orders, phone orders, delivery)
If you sell ice cream online, by telephone or for delivery, allergen information must be provided at two stages: first, at the time of order (for example on your website or menu), and second, when the product is delivered (by way of stickers, an enclosed menu or verbally). You must ensure that items are properly labelled so there is no confusion when the customer receives them.
Events, markets and pop-ups
If you sell ice cream at events, farmers’ markets or from a mobile unit, the same obligations apply. Allergen information must be available at the point of sale. This is an area where many businesses are caught out – the informal setting does not reduce your legal responsibilities.
The Health & Safety Perspective – Getting Your Systems Right
Natasha’s Law is a food safety regulation, but compliance with it sits squarely within your wider health and safety obligations. Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, you have a legal duty to protect not only your employees but also anyone affected by your business activities – and that includes customers. From a health and safety perspective, here is what you should have in place:
- Allergen risk assessments. You should have a documented risk assessment that specifically covers allergen management in your production and sales processes. This should identify where allergens are present, where cross-contamination could occur, and what controls are in place to prevent it.
- Clear labelling procedures. You need a documented process for how products are labelled, who is responsible for checking labels, and how changes to recipes or ingredients are communicated and reflected on labels.
- Cross-contamination controls. Production areas, equipment and utensils should be managed to minimise cross-contamination. This includes cleaning protocols between flavour runs, separation of allergen-containing ingredients, and clear procedures for staff handling different products.
- Staff training. All staff who prepare, handle or sell food must be trained in allergen awareness and your specific labelling procedures. This applies to production staff, counter staff, delivery drivers and anyone else in the chain. Training must be documented and refreshed regularly.
- Regular spot-checks and audits. It is not enough to train your staff and hope for the best. You should be carrying out regular checks to make sure labelling is accurate, allergen information is being communicated, and your processes are being followed on the ground.
- Supplier management. You need to know exactly what is in the ingredients you buy. Maintain accurate records from your suppliers and review them whenever a supplier changes their formulation. An ingredient change upstream can introduce an allergen you were not previously declaring.
TOP TIP It is now commonplace for serving staff to ask customers if they have any allergies. This is a simple but effective step – but it does not replace the need to have detailed allergen information displayed or available in writing.
What Is the Risk If I Don’t Comply?
The obvious and most serious risk is that a customer becomes seriously ill – or, as in the tragic case of Natasha, dies. This can have a devastating impact on the individual, their family, and on your business and its reputation.
There are also significant legal risks:
- Enforcement action by your Local Authority – including improvement notices, reduced hygiene ratings, or fines. Criminal prosecution – in the event of serious harm or death, business owners can face criminal charges. This is not theoretical – food business operators have been prosecuted and imprisoned following allergen-related deaths.
- Civil compensation claims – business owners can be vicariously liable for the actions and omissions of their employees.
- Reputational damage – in the age of social media and online reviews, a single allergen incident can cause lasting harm to your brand.
The HR Perspective – What to Do When an Employee Gets It Wrong
This is the part many business owners find difficult. You have trained your staff, you have the systems in place, but an employee still fails to label a product correctly, forgets to communicate allergen information to a customer, or does not follow your cross-contamination procedures. What do you do?
Start with your policies
Your employee handbook should include clear policies on Natasha’s Law compliance and allergen management. Critically, your disciplinary policy should refer to failure to comply with allergen labelling and food safety obligations as a serious matter – and potentially as a gross misconduct offence, given the risk to life.
Ensure proper training and induction
A detailed induction programme should cover your expectations in relation to all aspects of Natasha’s Law compliance. Business owners should also undertake regular refresher training to ensure that staff remain aware of their obligations. Keeping documented records of all training is essential – if you ever need to take disciplinary action, you will need to demonstrate that the employee was properly trained.
Don’t hesitate to act
If an employee fails to comply with your allergen obligations, you should address it. Do not ignore it, do not leave it and hope it does not happen again. The potential consequences are too serious. The appropriate response will depend on the circumstances:
- For a first or minor lapse where no harm resulted, re-training and formal words of advice may be appropriate in the first instance.
- For repeated failures or a more serious lapse, a formal disciplinary sanction such as a written warning is reasonable.
- For a serious or reckless failure that put a customer at genuine risk of harm – particularly where the employee was properly trained and aware of their obligations – this could constitute gross misconduct and may warrant dismissal.
In all cases, employers must follow a fair procedure. This means conducting a proper investigation, holding a disciplinary hearing, and being able to demonstrate both adequate training and the employee’s failings. Getting this process right protects you from unfair dismissal claims.
Audit regularly
It is wise to regularly audit and check the working practices of your team to ensure that staff are upholding high standards. This allows you to correct errors proactively before they result in harm – and it demonstrates to the Local Authority, the HSE, and any court that your business takes compliance seriously.
How Employment Law Solutions Can Help
Natasha’s Law compliance sits at the intersection of health and safety and HR – and that is exactly where Employment Law Solutions operates. We offer both services under one roof, which means you get joined-up support instead of dealing with separate providers.
On the Health & Safety side, we can:
- Carry out allergen-specific risk assessments for your production and sales operations.
- Review your labelling procedures and identify any gaps in compliance.
- Provide tailored documentation – no templates, every policy and procedure written specifically for your business.
- Conduct regular site visits and audits to spot issues before they become incidents.
- Act as your competent person for health and safety, giving you access to qualified consultants without the cost of employing a full-time H&S manager.
On the HR and Employment Law side, we can:
- Draft or review your employee handbook to ensure your policies cover Natasha’s Law obligations and that your disciplinary policy properly addresses allergen compliance failures.
- Advise you on how to handle disciplinary situations when employees fail to comply with allergen obligations – including guiding you through investigations, hearings and outcomes.
- Help you document your training programme so you can demonstrate compliance if challenged.
- Provide 24/7, 365-day HR advice through our retainer service, so you always have a lawyer to call when something goes wrong.
The main business concern is to ensure that staff are properly trained and that where an error has occurred it is dealt with swiftly.
Let’s Talk
Natasha’s Law came from a tragic incident but is a vital piece of law to protect those with allergies – and to protect your business and you as a business owner from potentially devastating consequences. Compliance is not optional, and failing to get it right can have huge ramifications for your customers, your business and your staff. Employment Law Solutions offers both Employment Law and Health & Safety support to businesses across the food, hospitality and leisure sectors. Our monthly retainer service gives you access to HR advice and H&S support 24/7, 365 days a year, with bespoke contracts, handbooks and policies provided in month one. You can spread the cost over 12 equal monthly payments. If you dropped on this guide following the ICA Expo or stubbled across us after a Google search and would like to find out how we can help your business, we would love to hear from you. Call us on 01270 781006 or request a quote.
