Custom app for allergen information on your menu
For non-prepacked food, you may give allergen information verbally, provided a notice is displayed somewhere letting guests know they can ask. However, the information itself must always be available in writing or electronically, both for your staff and for the NVWA. That verbal answer therefore needs to rest on something.
What the rules actually require
There are fourteen allergens: cereals containing gluten, egg, fish, peanut, tree nuts, soya, milk including lactose, crustaceans, molluscs, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphites and lupin. This list has applied since late 2014 under the Warenwetregeling allergeneninformatie niet-voorverpakte levensmiddelen.
For prepacked products, the information appears on the label. For non-prepacked food, the approach differs: in restaurants, ice cream parlours, care institutions, catering, bakeries, butchers, greengrocers and fish counters. There, it can be provided via shelf cards and menus, or verbally.
If you provide it verbally, there must be a notice somewhere stating that guests can ask for this information. That is the visible side. The less visible side carries more weight: the information must always be available in writing or electronically for staff and for the NVWA.
This is precisely where things go wrong in practice. Not with the guest at the table, but with the question of what the answer was based on. A chef who knows it by heart does not count as written availability, and a folder in the kitchen containing last season's menu certainly doesn't either.
How we build this
The core is the dish and its ingredients. Allergens are not a property you attach to a dish; they follow from what is in it, and that changes when a supplier changes.
For each dish, what goes into it, with the allergens attached to each ingredient.
A dish's allergens follow from its ingredients, so a change flows through automatically.
On a screen in the kitchen and at the bar, showing today's menu and not last month's.
An overview that an inspector can read without anyone having to operate the system.
What the app does in practice
The integration between ingredient and dish carries the whole thing. What else you need depends on how often your menu changes and whether you have several locations.
Allergens from ingredients
If an ingredient changes, the dishes it appears in change too. No second list lagging behind.
Quick look-up at the table
Staff search by dish or by allergen and have the answer within a few taps.
Daily specials and changing dishes
A dish of the day should carry the same information as a permanent dish, even if it appears for only one day.
Traces and cross-contamination
What happens in the same fryer or on the same board is information your staff must be able to give.
Guests can check for themselves
A page or code alongside the menu, without replacing the verbal conversation.
Always available in writing
An export or screen that staff and the NVWA can consult, even if the network falters.
Who we build for
Who works with this differs by business. Four situations.
Restaurants with a changing menu
Anyone who changes something every week has the greatest chance of the allergen list falling behind.
Caterers and care institutions
They serve people who often cannot ask for themselves, so what has been recorded is what counts.
Bakers and butchers
At a counter with unpackaged products, the same obligation applies as in a restaurant.
Chains and multiple locations
One recipe, several kitchens, and the question of whether everyone gives the same information.
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Recipes change, suppliers switch and the menu moves with the seasons. Ingredients, dishes and allergens should be adjustable, not locked inside the app.
For chains and caterers with one central recipe for all locations, there is our allergen information software for the menu.
Why Appfront
Verbal disclosure is permitted, but it needs to rest on something
The information must always be available in writing or electronically to staff and the NVWA. We build that foundation.
Allergens follow from ingredients
A separate list falls behind as soon as a supplier changes. Deriving them prevents that.
The daily special is the weak point
What appears on the menu for only one day rarely receives the same care, and that is exactly where things get missed.
We do not decide your recipes
Your kitchen knows what goes into each dish. We make sure that knowledge is fixed in place and can be consulted.
Security and privacy
Your recipes are commercially sensitive: exactly what goes into a dish and who you buy from should not be visible to everyone. We set access by role, show front-of-house staff the allergens without the full recipe, and log who has viewed what. Anything stored locally on a device is encrypted and can be remotely wiped if a device is lost.
For this subject, the reliability of the moment is what matters. In the event of an incident, the question is what information was available on that day, not what is listed now. We keep menu versions with timestamp and author, so it is possible to show what applied on a given day, and any correction is shown as a visible correction alongside the original entry. How we handle security ourselves is set out in our information security policy.
Frequently asked questions about allergen information
There are fourteen: cereals containing gluten, egg, fish, peanuts, tree nuts, soya, milk including lactose, crustaceans, molluscs, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphites and lupin.
Yes, that is permitted for non-prepacked food. However, there must be a notice somewhere stating that guests can ask for this information. And the information itself must always be available in writing or electronically for your staff and for the NVWA.
Anyone supplying non-prepacked food: restaurants, ice cream parlours, care institutions, caterers, bakers, butchers, greengrocers and fishmongers. The rules have applied since the end of 2014.
A list that lives separately from the recipe. As soon as a supplier or ingredient changes, the allergen list is no longer accurate, yet nobody notices. By deriving the allergens from the ingredients, a change flows through automatically.
That is information your staff must be able to give, for example about what is fried in the same fryer or prepared on the same chopping board. Record it against the dish rather than leaving it to the chef on duty to remember.
No. This is specifically about allergen information and recording it. We describe menus, ordering and the kitchen on our restaurant app page. See also our approach to building an app.
Where is the allergen information for today's dish recorded?
Ask your own kitchen about the allergens in a daily special. If the answer comes from someone's memory, you don't meet the requirement that it be available in writing or electronically. We build this as a standalone app and as part of a wider app development project.