Many people will remember the unfortunate story of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse; the teenager who died following an allergic reaction to a sandwich containing sesame. The sandwich was pre-packed but did not contain an ingredients label or allergy messaging. This type of labelling was not mandatory at the time but, following her death, her parents strived to get the law changed, so that others with food allergies have confidence in the foods they buy and do not suffer the same fate.
As a result of their campaigning, The UK Food Information Amendment 2019 (or Natasha’s Law, as it is commonly known) comes into force on 1st October 2021. This means that all food that is pre-packed for direct sale (PPDS) will have to carry labelling stating the name of the product and a full ingredients list with allergens highlighted.
New Natasha’s Law online course
To help businesses understand the requirements of the new law and to whom it applies, we are launching an online Natasha’s Law course in September. This will cover the following:
- What is Natasha’s Law?
- Background information about allergens
- Labelling controls for the 14 allergens recognised by law
- The different ways food can be packaged and presented to the consumer
- Definition of Pre-packed for Direct Sale Food
- Using the Pre-packed for Direct Sale decision tree
- The requirements for businesses to comply with the new legislation
The course is video-based and is presented by an experienced food allergens trainer with many years’ food industry experience. It features a blend of video, interactive assessments and fact-checking throughout to ensure the retention of information. There are no entry requirements, but a basic knowledge of food safety would be beneficial.
Who will the new law apply to?
Our Natasha’s Law course will appeal to bakers and confectioners, farm shop staff, butchers, cafes, sandwich shops, stallholders, charity event organisers, mobile caterers, small retailers and any other businesses packaging and selling food from the same premises. We will be notifying all our customers once the course has launched, but in the meantime if you would like to register your interest, please contact Claire Lennon on 01756 700802 or email claire.lennon@vwa.co.uk