Natasha's Law for Food Trucks: The Complete 2026 Guide

If you run a food truck, street food stall or mobile catering business in the UK, "Natasha's Law" is the labelling rule you cannot ignore. It came into force on 1 October 2021 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and it changed the way pre-packed food for direct sale (PPDS) must be labelled.

It's named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after eating a baguette bought at a Pret a Manger that didn't declare sesame. Her story is the reason the law exists — and the reason food businesses of every size, including food trucks, now have a legal duty to name every allergen in their food.

This guide walks you through exactly what Natasha's Law means for your truck, the 14 allergens you must declare, and how to label your food without slowing down a busy service.

Natasha's Law is the common name for the labelling requirements introduced under EU Regulation 1169/2011 (the Food Information to Consumers Regulation, or FIC), as retained in UK law. It applies to pre-packed food for direct sale (PPDS) — food that is:

• Pre-packed food for direct sale (PPDS)
• Anything wrapped or contained before the customer chooses or orders it
• Food you prepare, wrap and sell on the same premises where it was packed
• This includes sandwiches, salads, baked goods and burgers made ahead
• Freshly cooked-to-order food (made after the customer orders) is not PPDS

Before Natasha's Law, PPDS food only needed an ingredients list if it carried a label with a name. Most food trucks and small bakeries didn't label at all. Now, every PPDS item must have a full ingredients list, with the 14 major allergens emphasised in bold (or in a way that stands out from the rest of the list).

Freshly cooked food — a burger grilled after you order it, a wrap assembled to order — is NOT covered by Natasha's Law. But you still have a separate duty under the Food Information Regulations 2014 (FIR) to provide allergen information on request, in writing or orally. In practice, most food trucks display this on the menu or a board.

Need to know whether each dish in your truck qualifies? Our Natasha's Law label formatter bolds allergens automatically for any ingredient list you type in.

UK law recognises 14 allergens that must always be named when they appear in your food, even in tiny amounts as a deliberate ingredient:

Notice how easy it is to miss one. A drizzle of tahini in a sauce = sesame. A sprinkle of paprika mix = sometimes contains gluten or celery. Dried fruit in a brownie = sulphites. That's why a written 14 allergens checklist is worth keeping in the truck.

The label on any PPDS item must include:

• Name of the food
• Full ingredients list, in descending order of weight
• The 14 allergens emphasised in bold within the ingredients list
• For some foods, storage or cooking instructions, and a best-before or use-by date

The allergen emphasis doesn't have to be bold — it can also be in a different font, size or colour. But it must be obvious. Every item needs its own label; a laminated board behind the counter is not enough.

For a printable layout you can size to your packaging, use our free Natasha's Law label template.

• Space is tight — you can't store rolls of printed labels and a labelling station the way a bakery can. Print labels at home or at a print shop in batches, or keep labels as simple digital templates you print per run.
• Menus change with the weather — a special or a sold-out item means the labels change too. Keep a master copy of each dish's ingredient list somewhere you can update in under a minute.
• Recipes vary by the batch — if tonight's sauce uses Worcestershire sauce (contains anchovy), the label must say so. Re-print rather than hand-correction.
• Cross-contact is different — a shared fryer means your "gluten-free" claim is a risk. State "may contain" or "cooked in oil shared with gluten-containing foods" honestly.
• You move between councils — every local authority you trade in can inspect you under the same national rules, so one consistent labelling system saves a lot of stress.

Getting Natasha's Law wrong can result in:

• EHO enforcement action — from a written warning to a prohibition notice that can close your pitch on the spot.
• Prosecution and fines — food safety offences can be prosecuted by local authorities; fines are uncapped in serious cases.
• Civil liability — the human cost is the real one. A customer with a severe allergy who trusts your food is relying on your label being right.

It's not about scare stories — it's about making labelling so easy it just happens every single time. That's exactly the gap SafeMenu fills: one place to keep every dish's allergen data, print compliant labels, and give customers a scannable QR menu they can filter by their allergies.

1. Identify every PPDS item on your truck and work out which of the 14 allergens each contains.
2. Write full ingredient lists in descending order of weight.
3. Bold every allergen in those lists.
4. Print labels for each item, plus a spare batch for next service.
5. Make sure the whole team knows the 14 allergens and how to answer "does this contain…?" correctly.
6. Keep an up-to-date allergen matrix so any staff member can check a dish at a glance.

SafeMenu makes steps 2–4 take two minutes instead of an afternoon. Sign up for the free 14-day trial and run your first compliant label before your next service.

Disclaimer: This article is for general guidance only and is not legal advice. Always check the latest FSA guidance and your local authority requirements.