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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 ) .

The new law requires that there is a need 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 contain 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 are 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   This 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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How we help in the kitchen

To ensure your success we have an experienced, friendly team who will train and support you.
  • Free consultation to "get going"
  • On and off site training.
  • Consulting services.
  • 24 / 7 help desk.

Athena is simple and easy to use. There are 4 simple steps:

  • Create a dish
  • Add or update existing ingredients.
  • Set up your menus.
  • Select a template and print your menus and the detail information.

Step 1: Create a dish

Simply create a dish in Athena by giving it a name, description, and you can add a photo of the dish if desirable. Later you can add further characteristics such as Food Types, Food Symbols you may want to use.

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Step 2: Add or update ingredients for the dish.

Add or update ingredients to your dish.
Simply select the ingredients from drop down list.

Ingredients can be selected, based on the following sources:

  • From your suppliers product list or catalogue,
  • Your ingredients product list
  • UK Nutrient Databank from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) which contains extensive information on the nutrient content of foods commonly consumed in the UK. And supported by the McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods series (CoF)


Step 3 Create a Menu

You can create a menu with any number of dishes, courses or meals.
Any number of menu types can be created: Special Diets, Events, Health, Religious and Cutltural types.

It is simple: Just select the dish from the drop down list of your dishes.

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Step 4 Select the templates you want to use

There are a number of standard templates that can be used for generating menus, posters and Dish Detail Manuals.
If you have any specific menu templates these can be loaded and utilised.

You have all the information you need.

  • Menu templates for creating menus that you can print. They 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.
  • Detailed Recipe Manual defining the dish, the ingredients and allergen information
  • An option that we can provide: "Dish Nutritional Details Manual". This defines caloric and other nutritional 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
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The future and ongoing support

As you change dishes, recipes and menus; or if 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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