Selling Food Online? Your Legal Obligations and Allergen Labelling Requirements
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a period of great uncertainty for UK food businesses. With most food outlets being forced to close, online sales and food delivery has become essential in keeping businesses up and running. For most organisations this has led to a complete shift in focus and a need to adapt to a new way of business.
Some food businesses are moving online for the very first time, which is a challenging transition in its own right. On top of this, companies are confused about what food information needs to be provided to customers when distance selling and what are their legal obligations as an online seller. For those of you that find yourself in this unchartered territory, we’re here to help.
Our friends at Nutritics have provided some expert advice on your legal responsibilities. Nutritics is a nutrition and allergen management software company. In a post which was recently published to their website, the team at Nutritics outlined the legal requirements for selling food online and obligations surrounding allergen labelling. Check out the article in full here. Below is a brief summary.
Legal Requirements for Selling Food Online
The legal requirements for providing information on foods, whether it’s being done online or offline, are very similar. However, there are a few key differences that must be considered if selling food online:
- All mandatory food information*, with the exception of the ‘use-by date’ must be available before the customer has bought the item.
- This information must appear on the documentation supporting the distance selling or be provided through other appropriate means clearly identified by the food business operator.
- When other appropriate means are used, the mandatory food information must be provided without the food business operator charging consumers supplementary costs.
- All mandatory particulars must be available at the moment of delivery.
These are not your only obligations when conducting business online or ‘distance selling’. It is also paramount that you understand your duties around allergen labelling. For one, it is crucial that all allergen information for the food being sold is
presented to the consumer in writing either before the sale or at the point of delivery.
Before you can deliver food online, it is important that you are up-to-speed on what information your customers are legally required to have access to.
To learn more about your legal requirements when selling food online and what is needed from a food labelling perspective, please check out the Nutritics article in full. You will also find information on how Nutritics software can make calculating the nutrition information value and managing allergen information for your menu items a lot easier to manage.
Moving Your Food Business Online? What Your Customers Need To Know.
