Knowing What's in Your Food - Allergens

MPI requires that you must know, and be able to tell your customers what’s in their food so they can make informed choices. This is especially important for people with food allergies.

The Simply Safe and Suitable requirements can be viewed here.

To read more about food allergens visit the NZ Food Safety website. Another useful website is the Allergy New Zealand website.

There are 11 common food allergens that MPI require you to know about.  However a customer may be allergic to other things and want to know if they are in your food.

Food allergies can result in life-threatening reactions that can occur within minutes of eating the food. You must know which foods you sell that can cause allergic reactions.

The MPI list of allergens you must know about are:

• sulphites.
• cereals containing gluten (e.g. wheat).
• shellfish.
• eggs.
• fish.
• milk.
• peanuts.
• soybeans.
• sesame seeds.
• tree nuts.
• lupin.

Other common allergens are: celery, crustaceans and mustard.

Safe Food Pro provides several ways that you as a business can fulfill the requirements of "knowing what's in your food"

• Upload a document containing the allergens in your food as a PDF or image (JPG).
• Use the Ad Hoc "Allergens on the Menu" form. 
• Create your own custom form with a multi-choice allergen list to record allergens for each menu item/recipe.
• Use the training form "Specific training of business procedure/method" to record when you train your staff about allergens.
• Create a quiz to test your staff's knowledge on allergens on your menu.