Takeaways and food delivery businesses operate across multiple channels — walk-in customers, phone orders, website menus, and third-party delivery platforms. Each channel has its own compliance requirements, and the businesses that get into trouble are usually those that treat them all the same way.
This guide covers what UK food labelling law requires specifically for takeaways and delivery operations, and where the most common compliance gaps appear.
The Starting Point: You Are a Food Business
Whether you run a fish and chip shop, a curry house, a pizza delivery operation, or a cloud kitchen producing food exclusively for delivery platforms, you are a food business operator under UK law. That means the Food Information Regulations 2014 and all associated food hygiene legislation applies to you in full.
There is no reduced standard for takeaways or delivery-only businesses. The channel through which food reaches a customer does not change the legal obligation to provide accurate food information.
Allergen Information: Your Primary Obligation
The most important labelling obligation for takeaways is allergen information. Under the Food Information Regulations 2014, you must provide allergen information for all 14 major allergens whenever they are present in your food, across every channel where you sell it.
The 14 allergens are:
- Cereals containing gluten
- Crustaceans
- Eggs
- Fish
- Peanuts
- Soybeans
- Milk
- Tree nuts
- Celery
- Mustard
- Sesame
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites
- Lupin
- Molluscs
For most takeaway food — which is made to order and served without pre-packaging — this is non-prepacked food, and allergen information must be:
- Available on request, or
- Displayed on menus, boards, or online, or
- Communicated verbally by trained staff, with a clear notice telling customers they can ask
If you use any form of pre-packaging before the customer orders — wrapping items in advance, pre-portioning sides, displaying pre-made items — those items become PPDS food and require a full allergen label with the ingredients list.
In-Store and Phone Orders
For customers who visit your premises or call to order, allergen information must be available before the customer places their order. This means:
- A printed allergen menu, allergen matrix, or allergen information sheet available on request
- Or allergens noted directly on your in-store menu or display board
- Or verbal communication from trained staff, with a prominent notice telling customers to ask
The critical requirement is “before ordering.” A customer must be able to obtain allergen information and make an informed decision before they commit to a purchase — not after the food has been prepared.
If a customer asks about allergens and a staff member cannot accurately answer, that is a compliance failure. Staff training is not optional — it is part of your legal obligation.
Online Orders: The Website and App Channel
If your business takes orders through its own website or app, allergen information must be provided to the customer before they complete their order. This is explicit in the FIR 2014 and has been clarified by FSA guidance.
Acceptable methods include:
- Displaying allergen information for each menu item directly on the ordering page
- A clearly signposted allergen menu that customers can access before checking out
- Pop-up allergen information triggered before order confirmation
What is not acceptable:
- Allergen information only available by calling the restaurant (for an online-only order flow)
- A generic “allergens available on request” notice with no further detail
- Allergen information buried in a terms and conditions page
For online orders, the written evidence principle applies strongly: if a customer places an online order and suffers an allergic reaction, you will need to demonstrate that accurate allergen information was available to them before they ordered.
Third-Party Delivery Platforms
If your takeaway is listed on Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat, or another aggregator platform, the same allergen information obligations apply — and the responsibility is yours, not the platform’s.
Each major platform provides a mechanism for food businesses to input allergen information for each menu item. Keeping this information accurate and current is the food business operator’s responsibility.
Key points for delivery platforms:
- Your allergen information on the platform must match your actual recipes — not a generic version or an approximation
- Every menu item must have allergen information provided (not just popular dishes)
- When you change a recipe, allergen information on the platform must be updated promptly
- If you add a new item to your delivery menu, allergen information must be in place before the item goes live
Platforms may suspend listings or take enforcement action against food businesses that provide inaccurate allergen information, particularly after a customer incident. More importantly, the consequences of a severe allergic reaction — for the customer and for your business — are serious regardless of any platform-level enforcement.
Pre-Packaged Items Sold Alongside Takeaway Food
Some takeaways sell pre-packaged products alongside made-to-order food — branded drinks, pre-packaged sauces, commercially produced desserts. These are typically pre-packed food (packaged off-site, in factory conditions) and are already subject to full labelling requirements under existing law.
However, if your kitchen produces items that you package and place on display before customers order — a tray of individually wrapped rice crispy cakes, a row of pre-packaged portions of garlic bread, pre-made sauces in branded tubs — these are PPDS food. Under Natasha’s Law, they require:
- The name of the food
- A full ingredients list with all 14 allergens highlighted
This catches many takeaway operators by surprise. If you prepare anything in advance and package it before the order is placed, even in-house, it needs a full PPDS label.
Calorie Information
For large food businesses (250 or more employees in England), calorie information must also be displayed on menus — including online ordering menus and third-party platform listings. See the calorie labelling guide for full details.
Smaller takeaways below the 250-employee threshold are not currently required to display calories, though voluntary compliance is encouraged by the FSA.
Country of Origin Labelling
For certain products — beef, lamb, pork, poultry, fish, honey, olive oil, fresh fruit and vegetables — UK law may require country of origin labelling. This is most relevant to takeaways selling these products in a non-prepacked format where specific rules apply.
The general rule for composite dishes (dishes with multiple ingredients) is that country of origin labelling is not required unless you voluntarily choose to make a claim (e.g. “Scottish beef”). If you make a claim, it must be accurate.
What Enforcement Looks Like for Takeaways
Trading Standards officers and EHOs inspect takeaways as part of routine food hygiene inspections. Allergen compliance is a specific area of focus following a number of high-profile allergen incidents in the takeaway sector.
During an inspection, you may be asked to:
- Demonstrate that allergen information is available to customers through every channel you operate
- Show that staff understand the allergen requirements and can accurately answer questions
- Produce your allergen matrix or documentation showing how allergen information is maintained
- Confirm that allergen information on delivery platforms matches your actual recipes
Improvement notices can be issued on the spot. In serious cases — where incorrect allergen information has led to a customer being harmed — prosecution and significant fines are possible, along with referral to the Food Standards Agency.
A Practical Compliance Checklist for Takeaways
In-store and phone orders:
- Allergen information available for every menu item
- Staff trained to answer allergen questions accurately
- Clear notice telling customers they can ask about allergens
- Allergen information updated when recipes change
Online orders (own website/app):
- Allergen information accessible before checkout, for every menu item
- Information updated when recipes change
- New items have allergen information in place before going live
Delivery platforms:
- Allergen information entered for every item on every platform you use
- Information matches your actual current recipes
- Process in place to update platforms when recipes change
PPDS items:
- All pre-packaged, pre-made items identified
- Full PPDS labels in place (name, ingredients, allergens highlighted)
- Labels updated when recipes change
Summary
Takeaway and delivery businesses face the same allergen information requirements as dine-in restaurants, plus additional channel-specific obligations for online and platform-based ordering. The businesses that stay compliant are those that centralise their allergen data — one accurate record per dish, pushed out to every channel — rather than maintaining separate versions for in-store menus, websites, and delivery platforms.
LabelFood helps UK food businesses manage allergen data and print compliant PPDS labels for pre-packaged items. See how it works →
