An allergen chart is a matrix: the dishes down the side, the 14 allergens across the top, a mark where an allergen is in the dish and a different mark where it may be from cross-contact, and a date. 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. The chart is the kitchen's record and the source of every answer at the counter. The allergen matrix on this site prints it from the menu, free and without an account.
The columns
The 14 as the law names them, in the order the kitchen finds useful: gluten cereals, milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, molluscs, peanuts, tree nuts, soybeans, sesame, mustard, celery, lupin, sulphites. Each column heading carries the name in full so the chart reads without a key.
The rows
Every dish on the menu, including sides, sauces and specials. A dish missing from the chart is a dish whose allergens are answered from memory. The matrix on this site builds the rows from the menu list.
The marks
Present, from the recipe and the ingredient labels; may contain, from cross-contact in preparation or from a supplier's own may-contain statement. Two marks, because a customer's decision depends on which.
The date and the versions
A chart is current on its date and stale the day a recipe or a supplier changes. Rebuilt then, and the old version kept so the answer given on any date can be shown. ProbeLedger Pro keeps the versions; the free matrix prints the chart. 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 allergen chart
Should the chart be on the wall?
Behind the counter where staff answer questions, and available to customers on request.
Can the chart carry more than the 14?
Yes; the 14 are the legal minimum, and a column for a kitchen's own concern is allowed.
Is the matrix free?
Yes, without an account.