The 14 allergens: what an Irish café menu has to show

Yes, it is a legal requirement. A café in Ireland must tell customers in writing which of the 14 regulated allergens are in each food and drink it serves. The information has to be in English (or Irish and English), available before the customer buys without them having to ask, and tied to the specific item: "banana bread: contains wheat, egg, milk, walnuts", never "our food may contain". It can sit beside each item on the menu or in one clearly signposted place in the shop.

What are the 14 allergens?

The list is EU law and the same in every member state. In the order the FSAI gives it:

1. Cereals containing gluten: wheat (including spelt and khorasan), rye, barley, oats
2. Crustaceans
3. Eggs
4. Fish
5. Peanuts
6. Soybeans
7. Milk, including lactose
8. Nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios, macadamias
9. Celery
10. Mustard
11. Sesame seeds
12. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites above 10 mg per kg or litre
13. Lupin
14. Molluscs

A few have narrow exceptions, such as fully refined soybean oil and wheat-based glucose syrups. The FSAI's list sets them out in full.

Do cafés have to have an allergen menu?

Yes. Since 13 December 2014 the EU's Food Information to Consumers Regulation has required allergens to be declared on food that is not prepacked as well as on packaged food. Ireland applies it through S.I. No. 489 of 2014, updated by S.I. No. 656 of 2024. The FSAI's guidance names cafés, delis, takeaways and mobile food stalls among the businesses it covers.

"Not prepacked" covers almost everything a café sells: food served loose, a sandwich made and wrapped when the customer orders it, and food made on the premises and sold packaged from your own fridge.

Can staff just tell customers about allergens if they ask?

No. The FSAI says the information must be in writing and easily found before the food is sold, and that customers must not have to ask for it. Staff who know the recipes help, but they are not a substitute for the written information. Staff training must also cover the 14 allergens and how to answer a customer's concerns.

How should a café lay out allergens on a menu?

The FSAI allows two layouts. Either the allergens go beside each item on the menu, or they are kept centrally, on paper or a screen, in one or more clearly visible places, with the menu pointing customers to them. Either way the information must be legible and must name the item it belongs to; "our food contains nuts" is not acceptable.

Where food has no ingredient list, which is most café food, the format is the word "contains" followed by the allergens. A layout that works on a café board:

Item	Allergens
Flat white	Contains milk
Croissant	Contains wheat, milk, egg
Banana bread	Contains wheat, egg, milk, walnuts
Ham and cheese toastie with mustard	Contains wheat, milk, mustard

The rows above are an example layout, not a declaration: your own recipes and your suppliers' specification sheets decide what each line says.

Do drinks and daily specials need allergen information too?

Yes. The FSAI says allergens must be declared for sauces, condiments and drinks, not only main dishes, and names juices and smoothies. In a coffee shop that means milk in most of the drinks list. Specials written on a chalkboard need their allergens updated each time the offer changes.

Does "may contain" count?

No. "May contain" and "made in a kitchen that uses nuts" are voluntary warnings about cross-contamination. The FSAI says they can help customers but do not replace the mandatory declaration of allergens you use as ingredients. Equally, an allergen that is only present by accident at low levels, such as chips fried in oil that was used for fish, does not need declaring.

Can allergen information go on the café's website?

It can sit there too, for customers who check before they leave home. The legal requirement is about the point of sale, so the website is an extra, not a replacement. If you do put your menu online, the same per-item format works, and a menu written as text rather than a photo can be read by a phone's screen reader and by search engines.

Sources

• Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Allergen information for non-prepacked food, read 3 October 2026.
• Food Safety Authority of Ireland, List of 14 allergens, read 3 October 2026.
• Irish Statute Book, S.I. No. 489 of 2014; its 2024 update, S.I. No. 656 of 2024, as the FSAI page above cites it.

A summary of the FSAI's guidance, not legal advice; your local Environmental Health Officer has the final word. Cupán Studio builds websites for Dublin cafés, including the menu pages, which is why we read these rules closely.