Natasha's Law requires full ingredient and allergen labelling on prepacked food for direct sale. It has been UK law since October 2021, named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after eating a baguette with sesame that was not declared on the label.
The law applies to home bakers, market traders, and small producers. It is not optional. It is not only for big businesses. If you sell prepacked food directly to a customer – at a market stall, a farm shop, or collected from your door – you need a compliant label on every unit.
This guide covers what PPDS means, when it applies, what the label must include, how to handle cross-contamination in a home kitchen, and what happens if you get it wrong.
What Natasha's Law Is: PPDS
PPDS stands for Prepacked for Direct Sale. It means food that is:
- Packaged before the customer asks for it
- Sold from the same premises where it was packaged
- Sold directly to the final consumer (not to another business)
The law requires full ingredient and allergen labelling on PPDS food. Before October 2021, this food was exempt. Now it is not.
When PPDS Applies vs Loose Food vs Pre-Ordered Food
The rules change depending on how you sell. Here is the decision tree:
| Your sale looks like this | Category | Label requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Customer arrives. You hand them a wrapped brownie from your stall display. | PPDS | Full label required: product name, ingredients, allergens emphasised |
| Customer orders a birthday cake on Monday. You bake it Wednesday. They collect Friday, wrapped. | Pre-ordered / made to order | No label required, but you must provide allergen information another way (verbally, menu, sign) |
| Customer arrives. You slice them a piece of cake from an unpackaged display and wrap it in front of them. | Non-prepacked / loose | No label required, but you must provide allergen information another way |
| You sell wrapped brownies online. Customer collects from your door. | PPDS | Full label required |
| You sell to a café who will resell to their customers. | Wholesale (not PPDS) | Different rules: full ingredient declaration still required, but not PPDS format |
The key test: was it wrapped before the customer asked for it, and are you selling it to them directly from the place you packed it? If yes to both: PPDS applies.
What the Label Must Include
Every PPDS label must show:
- Product name – what the food is called
- Full ingredients list – in descending order of weight
- Allergens emphasised – bold, underlined, all caps, or highlighted background
You do not need to include a use-by date, storage instructions, or nutritional information on a PPDS label, unless you are making a nutrition or health claim. But you do need the three items above, on every unit.
The 14 Allergens Under UK Law
UK law defines 14 major allergens. If any of these appear in your product – in any quantity – you must declare them and emphasise them in the ingredients list.
| Allergen | Common sources in home baking |
|---|---|
| Celery | Celery salt, some spice mixes |
| Cereals containing gluten | Wheat flour, oats, barley, rye, spelt |
| Crustaceans | Prawn, crab (rare in baking) |
| Eggs | Whole eggs, egg wash, some pasta |
| Fish | Anchovies, fish sauce (rare in baking) |
| Lupin | Lupin flour (used in some gluten-free blends) |
| Milk | Butter, cream, milk powder, whey, cheese |
| Molluscs | Squid, oyster (rare in baking) |
| Mustard | Mustard powder, some spice blends |
| Peanuts | Peanut butter, ground peanuts |
| Sesame | Sesame seeds, tahini |
| Soybeans | Soy sauce, soy lecithin (in some chocolate) |
| Sulphur dioxide and sulphites | Dried fruit, some flours, wine |
| Tree nuts | Almond, hazelnut, walnut, pecan, pistachio, cashew, macadamia, Brazil nut |
Check every ingredient you buy. Read the back of the packet. Flour may contain gluten. Chocolate may contain soy lecithin and milk. Dried cranberries often contain sulphites. Marzipan contains almonds (tree nuts).
What 'Emphasised' Means in Practice
The law requires allergens to be emphasised. In practice, that means one of four options:
- Bold – most common
- CAPITALS
- Underlined
- Highlighted background colour
Pick one method and apply it consistently. Bold is the clearest and most widely recognised.
Example:
Ingredients: wheat flour (gluten), sugar, salted butter (milk), free-range eggs, baking powder, vanilla extract.
'May Contain' Statements: Legal Meaning and When to Use Them
A 'may contain' statement (also called a precautionary allergen statement) is not a substitute for proper allergen labelling. It is an additional warning when cross-contamination is possible despite your best efforts.
You must declare allergens that are deliberately added as ingredients. You may warn about allergens that could be present through shared equipment or environment.
Example: You bake brownies (contain eggs, milk, gluten) and separately bake almond biscuits (contain tree nuts) in the same kitchen, using the same mixer and oven. Even if you clean between batches, trace contamination is possible. Your brownie label should say:
Allergens: see ingredients in bold. May contain tree nuts.
Cross-Contamination in a Home Kitchen
If you bake in your home kitchen, cross-contamination is a real risk. You cannot eliminate it entirely, but you must control it and document your controls.
Practical controls:
- Clean all surfaces, bowls, mixers, and utensils between products
- Wash hands after handling allergen ingredients
- Store allergenic ingredients separately (e.g. nuts in sealed containers, away from flour)
- Bake allergen-heavy products (nut cakes, sesame crackers) last in a session, not first
- If you cannot guarantee separation, use a 'may contain' statement
Document your controls. Write down what you do, even if it is simple. 'I wash the mixer bowl and beaters with hot soapy water between batches. I store nuts in a sealed tub on the top shelf.' This documentation protects you if a customer queries your process, and it proves due diligence if there is an incident.
What Happens If You Get It Wrong
Allergen labelling breaches can result in fines of up to £5,000 per instance. Local authority environmental health officers enforce the rules. FSA data from 2023 shows 24% of PPDS businesses are not fully compliant.
More serious than the fine: harm. Allergic reactions can be severe. Anaphylaxis can be fatal. If your label is missing or wrong and someone is harmed, you face criminal liability, civil claims, and the end of your business.
You are not too small to be inspected. Environmental health officers visit markets, farm shops, and home bakeries. If you are registered with your local council (required by law 28 days before trading), you are on their list.
Practical Labelling Routine: Write Labels Before You Bake
Do not write labels after you bake. Write them before. This forces you to check ingredients, verify allergens, and commit to what is going into the product.
Routine:
- Decide what you are baking this week
- Pull the recipe and list every ingredient, including brand names
- Check the back of every packet for allergens
- Write the ingredient list in descending order of weight
- Emphasise allergens in bold
- Add a 'may contain' statement if you share equipment with other allergens
- Print or write the labels
- Bake, pack, stick the label on
If you change a supplier or swap an ingredient mid-session, rewrite the label. Do not assume the new product is the same.
Worked Example: Victoria Sponge Label
You bake a classic Victoria sponge: two layers of sponge, jam and buttercream filling, dusted with icing sugar. You slice it into 12 portions, wrap each in a clear cellophane bag, and sell them at your Saturday market stall.
Ingredients you used:
- 200 g self-raising flour (brand: Allinson, contains wheat)
- 200 g caster sugar
- 200 g salted butter (brand: Lurpak, contains milk)
- 4 medium free-range eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g strawberry jam (brand: Tiptree, no allergens)
- 150 g buttercream (you made this: 100 g butter, 200 g icing sugar, contains milk)
- Icing sugar for dusting
Your compliant PPDS label:
Victoria Sponge Slice
Ingredients: self-raising flour (wheat), caster sugar, salted butter (milk), free-range eggs, icing sugar, strawberry jam, vanilla extract.
Allergens: see ingredients in bold.
That is it. Product name, full ingredient list in descending weight order, allergens emphasised. If you also bake a walnut cake in the same kitchen, add: May contain tree nuts.
What to Do Next
Pull your current labels. Check them against the rules in this guide. If they are missing ingredients, or allergens are not emphasised, rewrite them before you trade again.
If you do not have a label template, a documented allergen control procedure, or confidence that your labels are compliant, the Natasha's Law Compliance Kit gives you all three: label templates, ingredient declaration worksheets, allergen risk assessment, and a home kitchen cross-contamination checklist. £9.99.
Register with your local council if you have not already. It is free and required by law 28 days before you start trading. They will send you food hygiene guidance and may visit to inspect.
Allergen compliance is not bureaucracy. It is the difference between a successful market day and a £5,000 fine, or worse. Get the labels right now, before you bake the next batch.