An allergen sheet records for one dish what a customer may need to know before eating it: the ingredients, the allergens each brings from its label, the may-contain notes from cross-contact or a supplier's statement, and the date it was checked. 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. It is read by the person at the counter, by the chef changing the recipe, and by the inspector scoring management of food safety. The allergen matrix on this site indexes every sheet into one chart, free and without an account.
What it records
Dish, ingredients, the allergen per ingredient, may contain, date, initials. From the recipe and the labels kept with the traceability record on this site, never from memory, because memory is what puts mustard in the dressing without a mark.
Who reads it
Front of house, answering the customer; the kitchen, changing the recipe; the inspector, checking that allergen information is available and accurate. Each reads it for a different reason, and the date is what all three check first.
Why it is dated
The sheet is current on its date and stale when the recipe or a supplier changes. Keeping the old sheet with its date is how the answer given on a day can be shown later. A sheet with no date is an answer with no evidence.
From sheets to the matrix
The matrix is the sheets in one grid, for the counter. The matrix on this site prints it; ProbeLedger Pro keeps the sheets and the matrix versions with the HACCP plan they belong to. 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 sheet
Is an allergen sheet a legal requirement?
Accurate allergen information must be available; the sheet is the usual way a kitchen holds it.
Should the sheet list every ingredient?
Every one in the recipe, because the allergen is in the ingredient, not the dish.
Is the matrix free?
Yes, without an account.