The 14 allergens are the ones food law names, and the list is short enough to learn and long enough to need a record. The Food Standards Agency's allergen guidance, cited below, says only the 14 allergens are required to be declared as allergens by food law: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites at more than ten parts per million, and tree nuts. Knowing the list is the training; showing which dish contains which is the allergen matrix, the record a customer's question and an inspector's check both land on. The allergen matrix on this site builds it from the menu, free and without an account.
The list, in the groups a kitchen uses
Cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, molluscs and fish, eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans, sesame, mustard, celery, lupin, and sulphur dioxide and sulphites above the threshold the guidance states. Each is a column of the matrix; each dish is a row.
Where they hide
Gluten in stocks and sauces, celery in stock cubes, mustard in dressings, sulphites in dried fruit and wine, sesame in oils and breads, milk in butter and glazes, lupin in some flours. The matrix is built from the recipe and the ingredient labels, not from memory, and the traceability record on this site is where the labels are kept.
The matrix as the record
One row per dish, one column per allergen, a mark where it is present and a note where it may be present from cross-contact. Dated, and rebuilt when a recipe or a supplier changes. The allergen matrix on this site prints it from the menu; ProbeLedger Pro keeps the versions.
The question at the counter
A customer asks; the answer comes from the matrix, not from the chef's memory of tonight's sauce. A matrix behind the counter, current and dated, is the control for the allergen hazard in the HACCP plan. FoodDocs lists its Lite plan at $99 per site per month billed monthly or $79 billed annually, and its Standard plan at $199 per site per month, with a free 14-day trial, on its pricing page cited below. ProbeLedger Pro is $49 per month for the whole site.
Questions people ask about 14 allergens
Are there more than 14 allergens?
People react to many foods; the 14 are the ones the law requires to be declared. The matrix can carry extra columns for the kitchen's own.
Does the matrix have to be written?
Allergen information must be available and accurate; a written matrix is how it is shown to be.
Is the matrix free?
Yes, without an account.