Allergy details must be mandatory on menus – Food Standards Agency

Restaurants should be forced to publish allergy information on menus, the body responsible for food safety has said.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is backing calls for ‘Owen’s Law’, launched by the family of a teenager who died after an allergic reaction.

Owen Carey suffered an anaphylactic shock after eating chicken containing buttermilk, despite telling restaurant staff he was allergic to dairy.

Food allergies, intolerances or coeliac disease affect two million in the UK.

At a meeting on 13 December 2023, the FSA agreed that written allergy information should be compulsory in restaurants and coffee shops. It said members of its board would write to the government about this.

The FSA also said that conversations between staff and customers should also be expected.