A practical Australian guide to declaring allergens on your menu using PEAL plain-English names, allergen matrices and verbal advice under Standard 1.2.3.
In Australia, food service businesses must generally be able to accurately declare any required allergen present in unpackaged menu items, either displayed in connection with the food or provided to a customer on request. While Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) under Standard 1.2.3 legally governs packaged food labels, its plain-English allergen names set the benchmark you should mirror on menus, allergen matrices and verbal advice. Always confirm specifics with your state or territory food regulator. Key takeaways: Food service businesses must generally declare required allergens in unpackaged menu items either in connection with the food's display or accurately on a customer's request.. PEAL (Standard 1.2.3) sets plain-English required names — individual tree nuts, mollusc separated from crustacea, and each gluten-containing cereal named separately — which you should mirror on menus and matrices.. An allergen matrix mapping every menu item against the required allergens is one of the most reliable tools for consistent written and verbal declarations.. Verbal advice is only as reliable as your staff training and kitchen controls — incorrect answers from untrained staff are a well-recognised cause of allergic reactions in food service.. Requirements can vary by jurisdiction, so confirm your obligations with your state or territory food regulator and local council.. Declaring required allergens the PEAL way: Allergen group, How to declare it. Cereals containing gluten — Name each separately: wheat, rye, barley, oats. Crustacea and mollusc — Declare as two separate allergens. Tree nuts — Name the individual nut (almond, cashew, walnut and so on). Fish, egg, milk, peanut, soybean, sesame, lupin — Declare each by its plain-English name. Added sulphites — Declare at 10 mg/kg or more. What PEAL is and how it applies to menus Plain English Allergen Labelling (PEAL) became mandatory on 25 February 2024 under Standard 1.2.3 and Schedule 9 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, following a transition period, with a stock-in-trade allowance ending 25 February 2026. PEAL's mandatory formatting rules — bold font and a 'Contains' summary statement — legally apply to packaged, labelled food, not to food you plate to order. So why does it matter for menus? Because PEAL standardised the required names businesses now use to describe allergens. For unpackaged food served in cafes, restaurants and by caterers, the Code generally requires allergen information to be displayed in connection with the food or provided to the purchaser on request. Using PEAL's plain-English names on your menu, allergen matrix and staff scripts keeps your declarations consistent with the labels your suppliers now use, and removes ambiguous terms customers may not recognise. PEAL formatting (bold, 'Contains' statement) is mandatory for packaged food labels.. Food service must generally declare allergens in unpackaged food on request or in connection with display.. Adopting PEAL required names on menus is strongly recommended best practice.. The allergens you must be able to declare Under Standard 1.2.3 and Schedule 9, the following are the required declarable allergens. PEAL made several of these more specific, so treat each line as a separate thing to track: Cereals containing gluten — wheat, rye, barley and oats, plus their hybridised strains — must each be named separately rather than grouped as 'gluten cereals'. Crustacea and mollusc are declared as two separate allergens (previously often grouped). Tree nuts must be named individually. The remaining required allergens are fish, egg, milk, peanut, soybean (soy), sesame, lupin, and added sulphites at 10 mg/kg or more. For tree nuts, the required individual names are almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, pine nut, pistachio and walnut. Naming the specific nut matters because a customer may react to one and tolerate another. Gluten cereals: wheat, rye, barley, oats (named separately).. Crustacea and mollusc: two separate declarations.. Tree nuts: almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, pine nut, pistachio, walnut.. Plus: fish, egg, milk, peanut, soybean, sesame, lupin, added sulphites (10 mg/kg or more).. Building an allergen matrix for your menu An allergen matrix is a grid listing every menu item down one side and every required allergen across the top, with a mark in each cell where that allergen is present. It is a practical backbone for reliable declaration: it turns scattered recipe knowledge into a single reference any staff member can read. Build it from verified evidence, not memory. Read the ingredient statement on every product you receive — supplier labels now carry PEAL names, so the allergen information you need is explicit. Capture allergens from sub-recipes (sauces, marinades, stocks, dressings) and garnishes, and record cross-contact risks such as a shared fryer or a single chopping board. Review and re-verify the matrix whenever a recipe, supplier or product changes, because a silent formulation change on a delivered ingredient can make yesterday's matrix wrong today. List every item against every required allergen — no blank cells.. Trace allergens through sauces, marinades, stocks and garnishes.. Flag cross-contact risks (shared fryers, boards, utensils) separately.. Re-verify whenever a recipe, supplier or ingredient changes.. Menu declaration vs verbal advice You can generally meet your obligation to inform customers in more than one way, and most well-run venues use a combination. On the menu itself, you might place clear signage inviting customers to speak to staff about allergens, add allergen icons or a footnote against dishes, or reference a separate allergen guide. Written information reduces reliance on memory and helps during busy service. Verbal advice remains essential — a customer may ask whether a cake contains egg, and the business must be able to answer correctly. A safe pattern is: menu signage that prompts the question, an allergen matrix staff consult rather than guess from, and a defined process for passing an allergen request from front-of-house to the kitchen. Avoid vague reassurances like 'it should be fine'; give a definite answer from the matrix, or say you will check. Menu signage should actively invite allergen questions.. Never let staff answer from memory — consult the matrix.. Have a front-of-house to kitchen handover process for allergen orders.. Replace 'should be fine' with a verified yes/no or 'let me check'.. Cross-contact and honest limitations Declaring the allergens in a recipe is only half the picture — cross-contact during storage, preparation and cooking can introduce an allergen that is not an ingredient. A gluten-free dish fried in oil shared with crumbed products is no longer safe for a coeliac customer, even though the recipe contains no wheat. Be honest about what your kitchen can and cannot control. 'May contain' style precautionary statements should reflect a genuine, assessed risk, not be applied to everything as a blanket disclaimer, which trains customers to ignore them. Where you cannot guarantee the absence of an allergen because of a shared environment, tell the customer plainly so they can make an informed decision. Generally, controls such as dedicated equipment, separated preparation and thorough cleaning between tasks are how venues reduce cross-contact risk. Cross-contact can add an allergen that is not in the recipe.. Use precautionary statements for real, assessed risks — not as blanket cover.. State plainly when a shared environment prevents a guarantee.. Reduce risk with dedicated equipment, separation and cleaning.. Worked examples: Answering an allergen question during service: A customer asks whether the chocolate mousse contains egg. Instead of guessing, the waiter checks the allergen matrix, confirms egg is present, and tells the customer plainly. Because the matrix was built from verified ingredient statements and traced through the sub-recipe, the answer is reliable rather than a vague 'should be fine'. Catching a hidden allergen in a sauce: A cafe building its allergen matrix finds sesame in a marinade and soy in a dressing that staff had overlooked. Tracing every dish through its sauces, stocks and garnishes means those allergens are now declared on the menu and matrix, rather than surfacing only after a customer reacts. Checklist: Ingredient statements collected for every product in use. Each recipe broken down through sub-recipes and garnishes. Allergen matrix maps every item against all required allergens. Tree nuts named individually; mollusc and crustacea listed separately. Gluten cereals (wheat, rye, barley, oats) named separately. Cross-contact risks (shared fryers, boards, utensils) flagged. Menu signage invites allergen questions. Staff trained to consult the matrix, not answer from memory. Front-of-house to kitchen allergen handover process defined. Matrix dated and re-verified after any recipe or supplier change. Common mistakes: Grouping allergens loosely (e.g. 'nuts' or 'shellfish') instead of naming individual tree nuts and separating mollusc from crustacea.. Building the matrix from memory rather than reading verified ingredient statements.. Forgetting allergens hidden in sauces, stocks, marinades and garnishes.. Letting staff answer allergen questions from recollection instead of the matrix.. Applying blanket 'may contain' statements to everything, which trains customers to ignore genuine warnings.. Failing to update the matrix when a supplier quietly reformulates a delivered ingredient.. Treating a gluten-free recipe as safe while cooking it in a shared fryer or on shared equipment..
How to set up allergen declaration on your menu
Gather the ingredient statements for every product your kitchen uses. Supplier labels now carry PEAL required names, giving you an explicit, verified source for each item's allergens rather than relying on staff recollection.
Decompose each menu item into its components, including sauces, stocks, marinades, dressings and garnishes. Record every required allergen that appears anywhere in the dish, using the PEAL plain-English names.
Create a grid of menu items against the required allergens and mark each cell where an allergen is present. Add a separate column or note for cross-contact risks such as shared fryers or boards.
Place clear prompts on your menu inviting customers to ask about allergens, and decide whether to add icons, footnotes or a separate allergen guide. Keep the wording consistent with your matrix.
Train all front-of-house and kitchen staff to consult the matrix rather than guess, and define how an allergen request is passed to the kitchen and confirmed back to the customer.
Re-check the matrix and menu whenever a recipe, supplier or delivered product changes. Date each version so you always know the current one is in use during service.
Frequently asked questions
Do the PEAL bold-font and 'Contains' rules apply to my restaurant menu?
Generally, PEAL's mandatory formatting rules — bold allergen names and a 'Contains' summary — apply to packaged, labelled food, not to unpackaged food you prepare to order. For food service, the Code generally requires allergen information to be declared in connection with the food's display or on the customer's request. Using PEAL's plain-English names on your menu is best practice. Confirm your obligations with your state or territory food regulator.
What allergens do I have to be able to declare?
The required declarable allergens under Standard 1.2.3 are the gluten-containing cereals (wheat, rye, barley, oats, named separately), crustacea, mollusc, fish, egg, milk, peanut, soybean, sesame, lupin, individually named tree nuts, and added sulphites at 10 mg/kg or more. PEAL made tree nuts, cereals and the crustacea/mollusc split more specific, so track each separately rather than grouping them.
Is an allergen matrix legally required?
A written allergen matrix is generally not itself mandated by the Food Standards Code, but you are generally required to be able to provide accurate allergen information for unpackaged food. In practice a matrix is one of the most reliable ways to meet that obligation consistently across staff and shifts. Some jurisdictions and audit schemes strongly expect one, so check with your local council or state regulator.
Can I just tell customers verbally instead of putting allergens on the menu?
Generally yes — for unpackaged food, allergen information can usually be provided on request rather than printed against every dish, provided your answer is accurate. The risk is that verbal advice depends entirely on staff knowledge. Best practice is menu signage inviting the question, staff consulting an allergen matrix rather than guessing, and a clear process for confirming details with the kitchen before answering.
How do I handle cross-contact on the menu?
Declaring recipe ingredients does not cover allergens introduced by shared equipment, such as a common fryer or chopping board. Where you cannot guarantee an allergen's absence because of a shared kitchen environment, tell the customer plainly so they can decide. Use precautionary 'may contain' statements only for genuine, assessed risks, and reduce risk through dedicated equipment, separation and cleaning between tasks.
How often should I update my allergen information?
Review your matrix and menu declarations whenever a recipe changes, you switch suppliers, or a delivered product is reformulated — a silent ingredient change can make an accurate matrix wrong overnight. Read the ingredient statement on new deliveries, re-verify affected dishes, and date each version so staff always work from the current one during service.
What should I do when a supplier reformulates a product I use?
Re-verify your allergen matrix immediately. A silent formulation change on a delivered ingredient can add an allergen that was not there before, making yesterday's matrix wrong today. Read the new ingredient statement, which now carries PEAL plain-English names, update the affected menu items and matrix entries, and re-check any menu signage or written information before the product is served.
Which staff need to be able to answer allergen questions correctly?
Any staff member a customer might ask, so train all front-of-house and kitchen staff. They should consult the allergen matrix rather than answer from memory, and follow your defined process for passing an allergen request from front-of-house to the kitchen and confirming it back. Avoid vague reassurances like 'it should be fine'; give a definite answer from the matrix or say you will check.