No More Lax Labels – How Labelling Technology Support Safety and Reputation

Food outlets and catering providers understand the risks of food labelling errors, which can harm customer safety and business reputation. Natasha’s Law, introduced in October 2021, mandates clear food allergen labelling on Pre-packaged for Direct Sale (PPDS) foods, helping protect the two million allergy sufferers in the UK.

While Natasha’s Law has brought about positive changes, it also presents challenges for industry workers to meet legal requirements. For example, restaurants offering takeaways must provide allergen information or dietary requirements at both the point of purchase and delivery. Businesses selling PPDS food made and packaged on-site, like grab-and-go sandwiches or meals, must label products with clear names, a full list of all ingredients, and highlighted allergens.

Failure to comply can result in fines or even criminal charges. To avoid penalties and protect customers, businesses should implement reliable labelling solutions. Handwritten labels can be illegible or fade, so using technology for accurate, durable labels is a smarter choice. These labels can display allergens, ingredients, barcodes, expiry dates, and more.

Brother’s labelling solutions offer high-resolution, legible labels for PPDS food. Café Common Ground, for example, uses Brother’s TD-4520DN printer and P-touch Editor software to print compliant professional labels for its takeaway PPDS food. This was the perfect solution for printing bespoke labels as required by Natasha’s Law, giving customers more confidence in their choices.

Additionally, Brother’s stock rotation solution is flexible, integrating with digital services or working standalone with additional battery packs. It can also help reduce errors, label waste, and food waste by providing more accurate use-by dates and times.

As food labelling requirements continue to evolve, businesses should adopt flexible, cost-effective labelling technologies to keep both customers and businesses safe.

Visit https://brother.co.uk/food-labelling to discover Brother’s full range of food labelling solutions.