Owen's Law: where things stand and what might come next
Owen Carey died in 2017, two weeks after his 18th birthday, after a severe allergic reaction to a meal at a restaurant. His family has campaigned ever since for clearer allergen information when people eat out. That campaign is known as Owen's Law.
Nearly ten years on, there's still no date for it to become law. But the FSA's best-practice guidance has already changed, and that matters for any food business, whatever happens with legislation.
2017. Owen's death started the campaign. His family wanted people with allergies to be able to get accurate information about what's in the food they're thinking of ordering.
2019. The inquest found serious problems with the information Owen was given about the ingredients in his meal. That added weight to calls for restaurants and other food businesses to communicate allergens better.
2021. The Owen's Law campaign pushed for clearer written allergen information in restaurants and better communication between customers and staff. It brought the issue to the attention of Parliament, Government and the Food Standards Agency.
December 2023. The FSA Board agreed it would like to see written allergen information made mandatory for non-prepacked food, and said it would write to Ministers to say so. It also said the written information should be backed up by a conversation between the customer and staff. The FSA is a non-ministerial department, so it can recommend legislation but can't introduce it.
March 2025. On 5 March, the FSA published updated best-practice guidance for businesses selling non-prepacked ("loose") food, such as restaurants, cafés, delis, market stalls and takeaways in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It now expects businesses to have written allergen information available for non-prepacked food and to encourage a conversation with customers about their requirements.
The FSA's consultation response says its best practice is to give written allergen information upfront, without the customer having to ask for it.
Until now, a customer with an allergy has typically had to pick something from the menu, flag themselves to a member of staff, and then ask for the allergen folder or matrix. The FSA is steering businesses towards having that information available before that point, whether on the menu, in print or on a digital platform.
There's still some flexibility. Businesses can provide written information on request if that suits their operation better, for example where keeping a single, regularly checked version is the best way to keep it accurate. So the aim isn't just to cram more onto the menu. It's to make allergen information easy to find, accurate and manageable for the people who maintain it.
The guidance is built around written information alongside a conversation about the customer's individual needs. FSA research found that consumers tend to trust written information more than what they're told verbally, and that they like being able to make their own choices from it. Businesses, on the other hand, value the conversation because it helps them understand an individual's requirements and deal with things like cross-contact during preparation. Each covers what the other can't, which is why the FSA wants both.
On 20 February 2026, MP Anna Gelderd submitted a written Parliamentary question asking what the Government was doing to require written allergen information at the point of ordering for non-prepacked food.
Stephen Kinnock answered on 3 March 2026. He confirmed that the 2025 guidance is still non-statutory and that nothing mandatory has been introduced. He also said the FSA is monitoring how businesses are taking it up, and that "a robust evaluation has begun this year which will assess uptake and effectiveness." The evidence from that evaluation will help decide whether further measures are needed, including legislation requiring written allergen information at the point of ordering.
To be clear about what that does and doesn't mean: Owen's Law hasn't been agreed, legislation isn't guaranteed, and there's no date. What has changed is that legislation is now officially on the list of options being considered.
The FSA's evaluation is looking at how aware businesses are of the guidance, how they're putting it into practice and how well it's working. The FSA is also assessing the impact of different legislative options, to inform any future decision by Ministers. It has said it doesn't know when that decision will come, and it has set up the evaluation so that early findings can feed into it.
The likely route looks something like this: FSA guidance, then evaluation, then Government consideration, then possible legislation, then implementation. Only the first step has happened so far. Nobody has confirmed that a law will take effect in 2027, 2028 or any other year, so be wary of anyone claiming a firm date.
That said, there's little point in waiting for a law before looking at your own practices, because the guidance is already in place.
If you run a restaurant, café, hotel, college or contract catering operation, it's worth walking through your allergen process as a customer would:
Can they see written allergen information before ordering, without asking anyone?
Is it easy to tell which dishes contain the allergens they need to avoid?
Does the information get updated when a recipe, product or supplier changes?
Once they've picked something, can they talk it through with a member of staff, including cross-contact risks?
You also need to think about the people running it. If the system makes life much harder for chefs, managers and front-of-house staff, it won't stay accurate for long. Better access for customers only works if the information is easy to maintain.
That's the problem we built Allergen Checker to solve. Customers scan a QR code and see the menu with written allergen information, before they order and without having to ask anyone. They can filter out dishes containing the allergens they need to avoid. Your team gets a practical way to manage and share that information.
It isn't meant to replace the conversation with staff. It makes it better informed. Instead of opening with "Can I see your allergen folder?", the customer arrives having already looked at the menu and worked out which dishes they want to ask about. For a busy kitchen and front-of-house team, that's easier all round.
No one knows yet whether or when Owen's Law will become legislation. What we do know is that the FSA's guidance now says written allergen information should be available, ideally upfront, and backed by a conversation about individual requirements. We also know the FSA is evaluating how that's going, and that the results will help decide whether to legislate.
If you'd like to see how Allergen Checker could work for your business, get in touch.
Stay ahead of allergies. Make the smart choice.
Further reading
FSA: Updated industry guidance for allergen information in the out-of-home sector
FSA: December 2023 decision to strengthen allergen information
UK Parliament: Written Question 114522, answered 3 March 2026
FSA: Best-practice consultation response
FSA/ACSS: Evaluation of allergen information for non-prepacked foods