Food Allergens
Food Allergens is an online course of approximately 30-45 minutes for kitchen, catering and hospitality staff, front of house taking orders, retail staff selling loose or prepacked food, mobile and event caterers, school, care and hospital catering teams, and anyone responsible for allergen information. It covers allergy, intolerance and coeliac disease, the 14 allergens, reactions and anaphylaxis, allergen information and labelling, and cross-contact, controls and records. Scored assessment, 0.75 CPD hours.
Description
Food Allergens is an online course of approximately 30-45 minutes for kitchen, catering and hospitality staff, front of house taking orders, retail staff selling loose or prepacked food, mobile and event caterers, school, care and hospital catering teams, and anyone responsible for allergen information.
The course has five short lessons:
- Allergy, intolerance and coeliac disease: The differences between food allergy, food intolerance and coeliac disease, and why every request is taken seriously.
- The 14 regulated allergens: The 14 allergens UK law requires businesses to declare, and the dishes they hide in.
- Reactions and anaphylaxis: Recognising an allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, and what to do.
- Allergen information and labelling: Giving accurate information for loose food, labelling prepacked and prepacked for direct sale food, and handling questions.
- Cross-contact, controls and records: Preventing cross-contact in storage, preparation and service, and keeping recipe and ingredient records up to date.
Every teaching page is narrated with captions and includes an interaction. Each lesson before the last ends with a knowledge check, and the last lesson closes with a 12-question assessment drawn from all five lessons (70% to pass, unlimited retakes, results by lesson) and a set of personal commitments recorded with the result.
This course is food allergen awareness for food handlers and front-of-house staff. It is not a regulated qualification, and your business's allergen procedures and recipe records always apply. Check the Food Standards Agency for the current labelling position.
Main sources: Food Information Regulations 2014; retained Reg (EU) 1169/2011 Annex II; Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019 (Natasha's Law) and devolved equivalents; FSA, Best practice guidance on allergen information for non-prepacked food (March 2025); Retained Reg (EU) 828/2014; Resuscitation Council UK, Emergency treatment of anaphylaxis.
Qualification Breakdown
By the end of this course the learner will be able to:
- Explain the difference between allergy, intolerance and coeliac disease.
- Name the 14 regulated allergens and where they hide.
- Recognise an allergic reaction and act on it.
- Give accurate allergen information and apply the labelling rules.
- Prevent cross-contact and keep allergen records up to date.
Certificate validity
3 years