Cakes come in all sorts of sizes for all sorts of occasions: wedding cakes, cupcakes, celebration cakes, birthday cakes, afternoon tea cakes, sponge cakes and fruit cakes.

They are made from home, in commercial shops, in bakeries or in kitchens all over the UK and they all have to follow the same guidelines. Food safety matters in whatever setting you are in.

Anyone that produces food and then sells it on to the general public needs to follow the food standard agency’s guidelines.

·       Have you registered your business with your local county council?

·       Are your premises inspected by the environmental health officer?

·       Do you have a food hygiene rating?

·       Can you show the workflow of your ingredients from delivery to end product?

·       Are you complying with the law?

Many people have set up businesses from home, selling cakes from social media over the past few years. Certainty over the past 12 months we have seen this more and more due to the pandemic. But this does not mean you are above the law.

With the new labelling laws being introduced from 1st October 2021 anyone that produces a cake will need to provide full ingredients labelling.

This does not need to be complicated and at Allergen Checker we have provided you with a simple solution to cover this: input your ingredients, create your cake recipe on the software and print your label. All for a reasonable cost of £360 inc vat per year. Or if you want to spread the cost it’s £36 a month inc vat. We want to provide you with a solution that is easy to use and cost effective.

Allergen Checker was set up with anyone in mind to use it. It’s easy to follow - enabling you to create a fully compliant ingredient label that you stick on your products which helps your customers identify what ingredients are in their purchases.

Cafes and tea rooms need to comply with this new labelling law, no one is exempt. If you make a product that then goes into a box and will not be altered until consumption, then you will now require a full ingredient label.

Charity cake sales are also included in this. It’s not about trying to trip you up, it’s about providing the information to your customers about the ingredients within the product you are selling. Manufacturers have had to do this for years so now anyone that creates a Pre-packed product that is for direct sale will also need to comply with the new law. (1st October 2021)

Having recently been diagnosed for an intolerance to gluten, nuts and eggs I am on a mission now to highlight the importance of ingredient lists on any products that we buy. I am unsure whether my sweet tooth will ever be satisfied again, my favourite gateau is a German classic: “Black Forest Gateau.” Any recommendation of who could make me a gluten free one would be greatly appreciated.

For more information on Allergen Checker and its simple labelling solutions please get in touch at: allergenchecker.co.uk where you will discover a raft of information and our signup pages.