What restaurants in Spain have to tell guests about allergens

The EU rule in Regulation 1169/2011

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers applies in every EU country. Annex II lists 14 regulated categories of allergens. They are cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre, measured as total sulphur dioxide in the food as eaten), lupin and molluscs. All four UK nations use the same list.

Unless an exemption applies, you declare any of them you use as an ingredient or a processing aid in a dish, as long as it is still present in the finished food, even in an altered form. Annex II lists a few exemptions, such as fully refined soybean oil, and sulphites count only above that threshold in the food as eaten. Accidental cross contact is a separate matter, covered under precautionary wording below. The categories are shared, but a general tag such as “gluten” or “nuts” may not be enough. Name the cereal or the nut, such as wheat or almonds.

The regulation also covers food that is not prepacked, which is everything you plate, pour or wrap to order. For that food, allergen information is compulsory in every member state, and each country decides how you give it.

How Royal Decree 126/2015 lets you give it

Spain set its rules for food that is not prepacked in Real Decreto 126/2015. Articles 4 and 6 cover allergens, and they allow two routes.

• In writing, where the guest can see it before ordering. That can be on the menu, on a board, on a label next to the dish, or in a digital menu.
• Verbally, by your staff, as long as three things are true. A visible notice on the menu or a sign tells guests to ask. Staff give the information, free, before the purchase is complete, and in practice before the guest orders. And the same information is kept in writing or electronically on the premises, where staff, inspectors and any customer who asks can see it.

So “allergen information available on request” is allowed in Spain, but only with that written record behind it. Either way the information has to exist in writing, and what staff say has to match it.

Article 10 says the information has to be available at least in Spanish (castellano). Regions with their own official language can have language rules of their own, so check with your autonomous community. For tourists you can add as many other languages as you like.

Who checks it

The public health services of your autonomous community carry out inspections, and, depending on local arrangements, municipal authorities may too. AESAN, the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition, coordinates food safety nationally. An inspector may ask how allergen information reaches guests and check dishes against your written record, so the record and the menu need to agree.

Where venues get caught out

• The recipe changed, the record didn't. A new supplier's chorizo contains milk. The old sheet in the office says it doesn't.
• Daily specials. The fish of the day and the off menu tapa are dishes too. They need their allergens like anything else.
• Sauces, dressings and garnishes. Check your own alioli recipe for egg, check which nuts go into your romesco, and check whether wine in a sauce leaves more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre of total sulphur dioxide in the finished dish. The allergen is often in the part of the dish nobody thinks about.
• “May contain traces” on everything. Precautionary wording is voluntary and must not mislead. Use it only where an assessment shows a real risk of accidental cross contact, and do not apply it to every dish by default.

Tourists and allergens

A guest with a severe allergy who does not speak Spanish is exactly the person a spoken only system fails. A written, translated menu lets them check a dish themselves before they order, and gives your staff something to point at when they are not sure.

On Octopus Menu you tag the allergens each dish contains, on every plan, and guests see them on the dish in the menu. A tag names the allergen category, so add the specific cereal or nut to the dish description. On the Essential (€21/month) and Growth (€55/month) plans the menu is also translated for you into up to 24 languages, so a German or Japanese guest reads the same allergen information in their own language. See how allergen labelling and menu translation work, or compare the plans.

A recommended routine that keeps the information right

The law does not set these steps. They are a routine we recommend.

1. Keep one written list of every dish and the allergens it contains. On a digital menu, the menu itself can be that list, as long as staff, inspectors and any guest who asks can see it on the premises, free and without needing their own phone.
2. Check the list the same day a recipe or a supplier changes, before the dish is served again.
3. Put a short line on the menu or a sign at the counter telling guests to ask staff about allergens.
4. Keep a printed allergen list at the counter for guests without a phone, and show the record to any customer who asks for it.
5. Brief new staff on where the information is and who to ask when they are unsure.
6. Add daily specials with their allergens before service, not after.

Keep the information accurate and review it whenever ingredients or recipes change. A menu you can update from your phone in a minute makes that easier. The information on it is still yours to get right. This guide is general information, not legal advice. If you are unsure how the rules apply to your venue, ask your regional health authority.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex II, EUR-Lex, with the current consolidated version
• Real Decreto 126/2015, Articles 4, 6 and 10, BOE
• AESAN, labelling of allergens and substances that cause intolerances and the national official control plan