As allergen awareness grows and regulations tighten, allergen compliance is not a box-ticking exercise — it’s a business-critical responsibility. With 2 million people in the UK living with a diagnosed food allergy, a single misstep can result in devastating health consequences, legal action, and irreparable brand damage.
Two recent cases have brought this into sharp focus.
The risks of allergen non-compliance are no longer hypothetical — they’re playing out in real time across the UK, with regulators, media, and the public paying close attention.
Only last week in Hertfordshire, a restaurant was prosecuted after a child was served food containing an allergen, despite their parents explicitly raising concerns before ordering.
The parents informed staff that their child had a food intolerance and asked whether a specific dish contained the allergen. Staff were asked on two occasions and assured them the meal was safe. The child subsequently became unwell and had a severe allergic reaction.
The incident prompted legal action and a public warning from Hertfordshire County Council about the importance of accurate allergen information. The restaurant was ordered to pay £26,802.76 at St Albans Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to food safety offences. The case drew media coverage that emphasised the emotional toll on families and the accountability food businesses face when vulnerable customers are put at risk.
In Newcastle, a separate incident led to another severe outcome. A diner with a known peanut allergy clearly informed front-of-house staff of their condition when ordering. However, there was no precautionary allergen labelling on the menu and parts of a food safety pack used by staff were found to be missing.
As a result, the customer was served a meal containing peanuts and suffered a serious allergic reaction, requiring emergency medical treatment. The restaurant was fined, and the incident attracted local media coverage — not only damaging the brand but also raising wider questions about staff training and communication procedures.
The reputational damage in both examples extended far beyond the individual sites involved. For multi-site operators, one high-profile incident can undermine brand trust across the entire estate. It takes years to build consumer confidence — and seconds to lose it.
These aren’t isolated events. They’re part of a growing pattern of enforcement, public accountability, and heightened scrutiny from regulators and the public alike. For multi-site operators, the risks are amplified: inconsistent training, varied levels of staff knowledge, and operational pressures can all contribute to lapses in allergen safety.
In many cases, it comes down to a false sense of security. Policies may be in place on paper, but unless those policies are regularly tested and enforced at site level, they may not translate into real-world protection for customers. Staff turnover, inconsistent training, and pressure on front-of-house teams can all result in critical details being missed at the point of service.
At Serve Legal, we help businesses bridge the gap between policy and practice. Our allergen compliance testing service uses trained mystery diners to assess how well your teams handle real-life allergen enquiries. These testers follow a controlled set of tasks — asking about allergens in specific menu items and tracking how the enquiry is handled, from first contact to final service.
Performance is assessed against bespoke parameters set in collaboration with each client. This could include whether staff used the correct wording, offered allergen information proactively, or located allergen menus correctly. Every test is scored, and results are benchmarked across your estate and industry wide to help identify trends, training gaps, and high-performing teams.
The consequences of getting it wrong are clear. But with the right systems in place, you can prevent incidents before they happen, protect your customers, and uphold the reputation you’ve worked hard to build.
If you want to ensure your business is allergen compliant, get in touch. Serve Legal’s allergen testing helps you stay ahead of the risk — and ahead of the law.