Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service is urging Warwickshire food businesses to get ready for Natasha’s Law. The new law will affect businesses that sell prepacked for direct ...
Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service is urging Warwickshire food businesses to get ready for Natasha’s Law.
The new law will affect businesses that sell prepacked for direct sale foods, for example a mobile sandwich business that packages sandwiches before a consumer selects or orders them.
If you sell prepacked items on site ready for sale, such as pizzas, rotisserie chicken, salads, pasta pots, burgers and sausages and bakery products, then you will need to act. Foods packaged and then sold elsewhere by the same operator at a market stall or mobile site will also be affected.
Natasha’s Law is named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, a teenager who died after suffering an anaphylactic reaction to sesame seeds, baked into the dough of the baguette she purchased from a Pret a Manger store. There was no specific allergen information on the baguette packaging as currently food prepared on the premises in which it is sold is not required to display allergen information on the label.
From 1 October 2021, the requirements for prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food labelling will change in Wales, England, and Northern Ireland. Any business that produces PPDS food will be required to label it with the name of the food and a full ingredients list, with allergenic ingredients emphasised within the list.
Prepacked for direct sale or PPDS is food which is packaged at the same place it is offered or sold to consumers and is in this packaging before it is ordered or selected.
Warwickshire County Councillor Andy Crump, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety said:
“This new law will help protect consumers by providing potentially life-saving allergen information on the packaging.”
“Businesses should act now and check if their products require PPDS labelling and what they need to do to comply with the new rules.”
“I strongly urge any Warwickshire business currently producing prepacked for direct sale food to contact our Trading Standards Service if they require help and advice with their allergen labelling.”
Warwickshire businesses can contact Warwickshire Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133 or email tradingstandards@warwickshire.gov.uk
- An introduction to the allergen labelling changes (PPDS): https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/introduction-to-allergen-labelling-changes-ppds
- Natasha Allergy Research Foundation: https://www.narf.org.uk/natashaslaw