The fourteen, as the rules define them
The list is closed and comes from Annex II of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011. It is not indicative and no venue gets to extend it: these fourteen and their derivatives.
- Cereals containing gluten: wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut and their hybrids.
- Crustaceans and products thereof.
- Eggs and products thereof.
- Fish and products thereof.
- Peanuts and products thereof.
- Soybeans and products thereof.
- Milk and products thereof, lactose included.
- Nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios, macadamias.
- Celery and products thereof.
- Mustard and products thereof.
- Sesame seeds and products thereof.
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/l.
- Lupin and products thereof.
- Molluscs and products thereof.
What the rules require of you if you run a venue
Royal Decree 126/2015 sets out, for food served unpackaged, what the European Regulation requires in general terms. Its article 4 obliges you to provide the allergen information, and that information has to be available before the purchase is completed.
Which rules out "ask the waiter" as the only route. It can complement written, accessible information; it cannot replace it.
- The information must be available before the customer decides what to order.
- It must be accessible and in writing: spoken only does not comply.
- A menu, a digital format, a sign or a folder available to customers all count.
- It must be current: if the recipe changes, the record changes.
- The responsibility is the operator's, even when the dish comes in from a supplier.
Valid ways of telling them, and what is wrong with each
They all comply. The difference is which one survives a full service and which goes out of date the first time you change something.
Printed folder at the bar Complies · Out of date the moment you change a dish Symbols on the paper menu Complies · Forces a reprint with every change Sign on the wall Complies · Hard to read in full and to keep per dish Digital menu with allergens per dish Complies · Updated in one place, changes on every phone
The usual trap: cross-contamination
A dish containing an allergen is one thing; a dish that might contain traces of it — same fryer, same board, same grill — is another. The rules do not require traces to be declared in the same way, but telling customers truthfully protects them and protects you.
What is a problem is the defensive move of marking "may contain everything" on every dish. It informs nobody and does not meet the spirit of the rule, and in an inspection it reads as exactly what it is.
What tends to go wrong
Four failures that repeat and that cost nothing to avoid.
- Having the information only on the physical menu and not on the digital one, or the other way round.
- Not updating the record when the supplier of an ingredient changes.
- Putting a general warning at the foot of the menu instead of marking each dish.
- Leaving allergens off the daily specials, which is exactly where they change most.
Frequently asked questions
My menu is in English and Spanish. Do allergens have to be in both?
The information has to reach the customer before they decide, so it has to be in the version they are actually reading. A menu whose English pages skip the allergens is not informing the customer reading it. And in Catalonia there is a second layer: the menu also has to be available at least in Catalan.
Is it enough if the waiter knows and tells them?
No. Spoken information can complement written, accessible information available before the customer decides, but it cannot replace it. It also depends on that waiter being in that day, which is exactly what the rule is trying to avoid.
Do I have to declare traces?
The obligation covers the ingredients the dish contains. Traces from cross-contamination are not treated the same way, but disclosing them truthfully is good practice. What does not work is marking every allergen on every dish just in case.
What about the daily set menu, which changes every day?
The obligation is the same. It is where compliance fails most, precisely because it changes daily, and where a digital menu saves the most work: you update it in one place and that is it.
What is the penalty if I do not comply?
Consumer enforcement in Spain is devolved to the regions, so the ranges vary depending on where your venue is. Check with the consumer authority for your region: any specific figure you read without the region named is worth treating carefully.
Who is liable if a customer reacts to an allergen?
The operator of the venue, even when the dish arrived ready-made from a supplier. Which is why it is worth keeping the technical sheet for what you buy in: it is what shows where the information came from.