An allergen matrix template is a grid, and the useful one is filled from the menu rather than downloaded empty. 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. Rows for the dishes, columns for the 14, a mark for present and a mark for may contain, the date, and behind each mark the ingredient label or supplier statement it came from. The allergen matrix on this site fills the template from the menu and prints it, free and without an account; the paid product keeps the versions.
The grid
Fourteen columns, one row per dish including sides, sauces and specials, two kinds of mark. One page for a small menu, two for a large one. The template prints at the menu's size rather than a fixed grid that runs out of rows.
Filling it from the menu
Each dish's recipe lists its ingredients; each ingredient's label or supplier specification names its allergens; the mark goes in the cell. The traceability record on this site is where the labels are kept, so a supplier change is caught at the delivery.
The date and the source
The matrix is dated and each version is kept, because the answer a customer was given on a date is the answer that matters later. The source behind a mark, the label or the specification, is what shows the mark was read and not guessed.
The matrix in the HACCP plan
The allergen hazard has the matrix as its control, alongside separation on the bench and training. The gov.uk guidance for food businesses, cited below, says a food safety management system must meet the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point principles, and describes critical control points as the points when you need to prevent, remove or reduce a hazard in your work process. ProbeLedger Pro keeps the matrix with the plan and the records. 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 matrix template
Can I fill the template by hand?
You can; the site fills it from the menu so a menu change is a rebuild rather than a rewrite.
What about dishes that change daily?
Specials get a row on the day, from their recipe, and the matrix is dated for that day.
Is the matrix free?
Yes, without an account.