UK Food Labelling Requirements 2026: What Every Small Producer Must Know

The three categories of food sale

UK food labelling requirements differ depending on how food is sold. There are three main categories:

• Pre-packed food — packaged before sale, not at the point of sale (e.g. products sold in supermarkets or online)
• Pre-packed for direct sale (PPDS) — packaged at the same premises where it's sold (e.g. sandwiches made and wrapped in a café)
• Loose/unpackaged food — sold without packaging, or packaged at the customer's request

Each category has different labelling requirements. Most small food businesses fall into the PPDS category.

Mandatory labelling for pre-packed food

If you sell pre-packed food (packaged before reaching the point of sale), your labels must include:

• Name of the food
• List of ingredients (in descending order by weight)
• Allergens highlighted within the ingredients list
• Net quantity (weight or volume)
• Best before or use-by date
• Storage conditions (if relevant)
• Name and address of the food business operator
• Country of origin (for certain foods)
• Instructions for use (if needed)
• Alcohol content (if over 1.2% ABV)
• Nutritional information (for most pre-packed foods)

PPDS labelling (Natasha's Law)

Since October 2021, all PPDS food must carry:

• The name of the food
• A full ingredients list in descending order by weight
• Allergens emphasised within the ingredients list (e.g. in bold)

This is what's commonly known as Natasha's Law. Read our full Natasha's Law guide →

Best before vs use-by dates

These two date marks are often confused, but they have very different legal meanings:

• Use-by date — used for foods that are unsafe to eat after the date, even if they look and smell fine (e.g. fresh meat, fish, dairy). It is illegal to sell food past its use-by date.
• Best before date — used for foods that may deteriorate in quality but are not unsafe after the date (e.g. dried goods, frozen food, tinned products). Food can legally be sold after its best-before date.

The 14 major allergens

UK law requires the following allergens to be declared and emphasised whenever they appear as an ingredient in any food product:

• Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats)
• Crustaceans (prawns, crab, lobster)
• Eggs
• Fish
• Peanuts
• Soybeans
• Milk (including lactose)
• Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts)
• Celery (including celeriac)
• Mustard
• Sesame seeds
• Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at concentrations above 10mg/kg or 10mg/litre)
• Lupin
• Molluscs (clams, mussels, oysters, scallops, squid)

Loose food allergen requirements

For food sold loose (without packaging), you must be able to provide allergen information to customers on request. This can be done verbally, via a written menu, or through a notice directing customers to ask staff. However, the information must be accurate and up to date.

Nutritional labelling

Most pre-packed food must display nutritional information per 100g/ml, including energy (kJ and kcal), fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt. PPDS food is currently exempt from mandatory nutritional labelling, though it is good practice to include it.

How FoodCore helps with food labelling

FoodCore generates compliant food labels directly from your recipes. Enter your ingredients once, and the system produces a full ingredients list with allergens highlighted — ready to print and attach to your packaging. When you update a recipe, labels update automatically.