Athena Allergen Manager, will take the hassle out of the new EU Food Allergen Legal requirement ( EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU FIC) from December 2014 ) to provide and display Allergen information for all food that is prepared in the following way:

Athena the easy way
The Allergens pic name How we help in the kitchen
In summary: a food business serving loose food, will have to supply allergen information for every item on the menu. You will need to communicate full details of the food identifying if it contains or does not conatain any of the 14 allergens. Analysis needs to be provided at ingredient level. This will be effective from 13 December 2014. We provide links to the various available information.

The Allergens

There 14 allergens that need to be identified if they are used as ingredients in a dish.
Celery   Celery  This includes celery stalks, leaves and seeds and celeriac.It is often found in celery salt, salads, some meat products, soups and stock cubes.
cereals_containg_gluten   Cereals containing gluten   This includes wheat (such as spelt and Khorasan wheat/Kamut), rye, barley and oats.It is often found in foods containing flour, such as some baking powders, batter, breadcrumbs, bread, cakes, couscous, meat products, pasta, pastry, sauces, soups and foods dusted with flour. The cereal will need to be declared. However, it is up to you if you want to declare the presence of gluten with this
Crustaceans   Crustaceans   Allergy to crustacea is quite common. People who are sensitive can react to different types of crustacean, e.g. shrimps, prawns and lobsters. Crustacea often cause severe reactions, and some people can react to cooking vapours. Some people allergic to crustacea also react to molluscs.
Eggs  eggs   This is often found in cakes, some meat products, mayonnaise, mousses, pasta, quiche, sauces and foods brushed or glazed with egg Egg allergy is common in young children, but more than half the children affected grow out of this allergy by age 3. Egg can cause anaphylactic reactions in some individuals.
Fish   Fish  This is often found in some fish sauces, pizzas, relishes, salad dressings, stock cubes and in Worcestershire sauce.
Lupin   Lupin  his includes lupin seeds and flour, and can be found in some types of bread, pastries and pasta.
Milk   Milk  This is found in butter, cheese, cream, milk powders and yoghurt.It is often used in foods glazed with milk, powdered soups and sauces.
Mollusc   Molluscs  This includes mussels, land snails, squid and whelks.It is often found in oyster sauce or as an ingredient in fish stews.
Mustard   Mustard  This includes liquid mustard, mustard powder and mustard seeds.It is often found in breads, curries, marinades, meat products, salad dressing, sauces and soups.
Nuts   Nuts  This includes almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio nuts, macadamia or Queensland nuts.These can be found in breads, biscuits, crackers, desserts, ice cream, marzipan (almond paste), nut oils and sauces.Ground, crushed or flaked almonds are often used in Asian dishes such as curries or stir fries.
Peanuts   Peanuts  This can be found in biscuits, cakes, curries, desserts and sauces such as for satay.It is also found in groundnut oil and peanut flour.
Sesame   Sesame seeds  This can be found in bread, breadsticks, houmous, sesame oil and tahini (sesame paste).
Soya   Soya  This can be found in beancurd, edamame beans, miso paste, textured soya protein, soya flour or tofu.It is often used in some desserts, ice cream, meat products, sauces and vegetarian products.
Sulphur dioxide   Sulphur dioxide  This is often used as a preservative in dried fruit, meat products, soft drinks and vegetables as well as in wine and beer.
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How to provide this information

Details of these allergens will have to be listed clearly in an obvious place such as:

  • On your menus. This may not be practical so it will be necessary to indicate that there are allergens in a dish and direct the customer to where the information is available.
  • Notice Board which defines your dishes and their allergen content
  • information Pack which includes dishes, ingredients, and their allergen content
The legislation indicates that Allergen information should be available at the point of delivery. In the event that the detailed information cannot be provided on the menu, then there should be clear guidelines as to where this information is available. Information should include:
  • Product specification sheets
  • Ingredients labels
  • Recipes or charts of the dishes provided and the allergen content could be used to communicate or aid communication of allergen information to the consumer.
A practical approach is to provide summary information at the delivery point and make detailed information clearly accessible. The signposting to the detailed information needs to be clearly signposted.
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Fast Simple Process

Step 1. Load your dishes and recipes

We will help you to load your dishes and recipes to the system. You can load these directly onto the system. The system is available over the internet, so it is easy to access and use. We should be able to help by automating the process if the dishes and recipes are in a convenient format.

Step 1. Load the Allergen information at an ingredient level.

The new legislation states that food suppliers need to provide the allergen information. It would appear that most food wholesalers are providing this information or getting ready to distribute it. In the event that you have any issues with getting the required information we can help with getting the correct information from your suppliers

Step 2. Automatically we will merge your dishes and the ingredient allergent information

This is an automated process, which will take each of the ingredients for each dish and in the event there is an allergent associated with the ingredient.
When calculating alelrgen information you have the option of using standard ingredient profiles or specific profiles provided by your suppliers. Having regard to the new legislation your food suppliers will provide the allergen information. We will coordinate with your suppliers to help coordinate usage of their product catalogues.

Step 3. We will provide all the information you need.

  • Menu templates for creating printing menus which are updated with allergen information. And include directions where detail information can be viewed.
  • Menu boards that can be displayed which describe allergen information for your dishes.
  • Detail Recipe Manual defining the dish, the ingredients and allergen information
  • An option that we can provide: "Dish Nutritutional Details Manual". This defines caloric and other nutrituional values per dish and can be presented on your menus or menu boards.
  • Product specification sheets
  • Ingredients labels
  • Menu templates that you use for printing of your menus
  • Optional: Kitchen dish preparation sheets for each dish
  • Optional: HACCP documentation
  • OPtional: Stock ordering and daily stock pick lists

The future and ongoing support

As you change dishes, recipies and menus or there are updates from your suppliers together we will keep your system upto date.
the system is available over the web so that at any time you can update your menus and print off the information as required.

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