If you’ve ever dined abroad and noticed that every dish on the menu had a tidy row of allergen icons beneath it, that wasn’t the restaurant going above and beyond — it’s the law. Since December 2014, EU Regulation 1169/2011 has required restaurants and cafes to provide allergen information for non-prepacked food, covering 14 major allergens that food businesses must clearly declare — including cereals containing gluten, tree nuts, shellfish, eggs, dairy, and several others. The information doesn’t have to live on the printed menu specifically, but it has to be accessible to any customer who asks, and staff are required to know it. It’s a universal standard the US hasn’t established yet.

The UK went even further in 2021. Natasha’s Law came into force after the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who ate a Pret baguette containing sesame she could not see on the label. The law requires food businesses to include a full ingredient list with highlighted allergens on the labels of pre-packaged direct-sale products — the grab-and-go sandwiches, bakery items, and prepared salads that previously fell into a grey zone. Allergen law in the UK now sits under the Food Information Regulations 2014, which made it a criminal offence to provide misleading information about the 14 allergens. And yes — that’s not a fine, but a criminal offence.

That gap between what’s standard in Europe and what’s standard here is exactly the problem Pallergen is trying to close — not by waiting for US legislation to catch up, but by working directly with restaurants to build the kind of allergen menus that should already exist. The 14 allergens covered under EU and UK law are broader than the FDA’s Big 9, but the principle is the same: people with dietary restrictions deserve to know in black and white what allergens are present in each menu item without having an entire discourse with multiple restaurant staff members.