allergen-on-delivery

---
name: allergen-on-delivery
description: Turns your delivery dish list, your recipe specifications, your supplier ingredient declarations and your ordering screens into a complete allergen answer for food nobody collects in person: a matrix of every dish against all fourteen allergens, the wording and placement for the answer before the order is taken, the label and wording for the answer at the door, the written position on whether Natasha's Law applies to your delivery orders, the cross contact controls for the bag, and a gap list naming every dish you cannot yet answer for. Use before you put a menu on an app or your own site, and again whenever a recipe, a supplier or a platform changes.
---

# The allergen answer settled at both ends of the order, before anyone has to ask at the door

You give this your delivery dish list, the recipe specification behind each dish, the supplier ingredient declarations, your current ordering screens and your label stock. You get back the fourteen allergen matrix dish by dish, the wording and the placement for the answer before purchase, the label wording and position for the answer at delivery, a written conclusion on whether prepacked for direct sale labelling reaches your delivery orders, the cross contact controls for packing and carrying, and a list naming every dish for which no declaration exists. It will not fill a gap with a likely answer. An allergen cell with no declaration behind it is recorded as not stated, because a confident guess in this file is the one output that can put somebody in hospital.

## What it does

1. **Write the fourteen names down in the order the guidance gives them and work to that list only.** They are celery, cereals containing gluten such as wheat, rye, barley and oats, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites where these are "at a concentration of more than ten parts per million", and tree nuts. The sulphite threshold is the one that catches a delivery kitchen, because it sits in dried fruit, some sauces and some wine used in cooking, and nobody thinks of it as an allergen. Working from a list somebody typed from memory is how mustard goes missing, and mustard is in almost every mayonnaise.

2. **Get the distance selling duty right, because it is two duties and not one.** The Food Standards Agency states it plainly: "If food is sold online or by phone through distance selling, allergen information must be provided at two stages in the order process." Before the purchase is completed it may be given "in writing (on a website, catalogue or menu) or orally (by phone)". When the food is delivered it may be given "in writing (allergen stickers on food or an enclosed copy of a menu) or orally (by phone)". Most venues do the first and not the second. The second is the one that reaches the person who is actually going to eat it, often somebody who did not place the order.

3. **Settle the Natasha's Law question in writing rather than assuming either way.** The Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/1218, made 4 September 2019 and in force 1 October 2021, brought in full ingredient labelling with allergens emphasised for food prepacked for direct sale. The Food Standards Agency defines that food as "packaged at the same place it is offered or sold to consumers and is in this packaging before it is ordered or selected", and then states the exemption that matters here: "The change to labelling requirements does not apply to PPDS food sold by means of distance selling, such as food that can be purchased over the phone or on the internet." That is not a lighter duty, it is a different one, and the guidance says so: allergen information "must still be provided" at both stages of the order. Record which of your items are made to order and which sit packed on a shelf before being selected, because a venue that sells both has both rules running at once.

4. **Build the matrix from the recipe specification and the supplier declaration, never from the dish name.** One row per dish, fourteen columns, each cell reading present, absent or not stated. A cell reads absent only where a supplier declaration or a recipe specification supports it, naming the person who declared it and the date. Everything else reads not stated and goes on the gap list. This is slower than it sounds and it is the whole value of the skill: the matrix that took an afternoon is the one that answers the phone correctly at half past eight, and the matrix somebody filled in from memory is the one that will be read out to a customer as fact.

5. **Place the pre purchase answer where the customer will actually meet it.** The Food Standards Agency best practice guidance sets the test for a website: "If not on the main menu it should ideally be no more than 'one click away'." For an app listing it adds a further instruction that owners forget because the page is not theirs: "When selling through a third-party website, consumers should be clearly advised where allergen information can be found, before the order is placed." Where you cannot keep the information accurate online, the guidance leaves one route open and it must be staffed: consumers "must still be able to access this information easily", for example by speaking to somebody on the telephone. Record for each channel where the information sits and how many clicks or taps it is from the dish.

6. **Design the label at the door as a physical object, not as a policy.** The second stage may be written, and written is better than oral because the person eating the food is often not the person who ordered. Decide what the label says, which container it goes on, and how it survives a wet bag. Check it against the packaging-spec file, because a label that seals the container and covers a vent has traded one problem for another, and a single sticker asked to carry the order number, the allergen information and the tamper evidence loses all three when somebody cuts it open. If you are answering orally instead, write the script and name the person who gives it.

7. **Write the cross contact controls for packing and carrying, which is the stage nobody documents.** The kitchen controls are usually somewhere. The bag is not. The Food Standards Agency guidance on delivery is explicit that businesses "should also identify and remove possible cross-contamination risks in the delivery process", and gives the example of "storing allergen-free meals separately in transit to avoid contamination through any spillages". Write down what happens to an allergen free meal between the pass and the door: which container, sealed how, bagged with what, marked how, and whether it travels in the same bag as the order it belongs to. A leaking sauce pot in a shared bag undoes every control upstream of it.

8. **Fix what happens when a customer types an allergy into the platform's notes box.** Deliveroo's partner terms require a partner to provide "accurate descriptions of menu items to be offered... including any relevant allergen advice" and to "take account of any information relating to customer allergies provided with the Delivery Order". That is a contractual duty landing in a free text field that a kitchen under pressure does not read. Decide now who reads that field, on which screen, before the ticket is fired, and what they do when it says something the matrix cannot answer, which is to ring the customer or refuse the order rather than guess.

9. **Hand the completed declarations to Codex to build the matrix and the gap list.** Every judgement is already made: the declarations, the placements, the label wording and the script are the owner's. Run:

   ```
   codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
   ```

   Claude hands over the dish list, the recipe specifications, the supplier declarations with the declaring person and date, the channel placements, the label and script wording, the prepacked for direct sale classification per item and the cross contact controls. Codex returns the fourteen column matrix, the not stated count, the channel placement table, the labelling test and a gaps file. Codex never marks a cell absent and never writes a word of the script.

10. **Date it, and set the four triggers that make it stale.** Put the build date and the date of each supplier declaration in the footer. Then write the triggers in the file: a recipe change, a supplier change, a new dish, and a change of platform or packaging. Any one of those reopens the matrix for the dishes it touches. An allergen matrix is the document most likely to be printed once, laminated and trusted for two years while three suppliers have changed underneath it, and that is the exact failure that the fourteen columns exist to prevent.

## Then it checks

1. The matrix covers every dish on every delivery channel against all fourteen allergens, with no blank cells, each cell reading present, absent or not stated.
2. Every cell reading absent names the supplier declaration or recipe specification behind it, the person who declared it and the date.
3. The file records, for every channel, where the pre purchase allergen information sits and how many clicks or taps it is from the dish, including for any third party platform.
4. The file records the physical delivery stage answer: the wording, which container carries it, and whether it conflicts with a vent or a tamper seal in the packaging specification.
5. The file states a conclusion on prepacked for direct sale labelling for each item, classified as made to order, packed before selection at the premises, or distance sale only, with the guidance sentence that decided it.
6. The file names the person who reads the customer allergy notes field on each platform, the screen they read it on, and what they do when the matrix cannot answer it.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never mark an allergen absent from a dish name, a recipe title, a photograph or a memory. Only a dated declaration naming a person supports present or absent, and everything else is not stated.
- Never state a proportion of customers with allergies, a rate of allergen incidents in independent venues or any benchmark of this kind. No published figure exists for a single independent UK venue, and a number of that sort invites an owner to treat the gap list as a low risk rather than as a list of dishes they cannot sell safely.
- Never give the allergen answer only before the order. The rule is two stages and the second one happens at the door, in front of the person who is going to eat the food and who may not have ordered it.
- Never rely on a free text notes field being read. Name the person, the screen and the moment, or treat the field as not read at all and say so in the file.
- Never carry a matrix forward through a supplier change. A substituted ingredient arrives without a conversation, and the row that was right in March is the row that is wrong in September.
- Never let a single label carry the allergen information, the order number and the tamper seal. When it peels or is cut you lose the legal duty along with the other two.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own recipe specifications and supplier declarations, and for their environmental health officer to review. It applies published rules to a draft matrix. It is not a food safety verification, it is not allergen testing and it is not a ruling that the information provided complies.

## Built from
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Allergen guidance for food businesses", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/allergen-guidance-for-food-businesses/allergen-guidance-for-food-businesses, updated 17 July 2026, read 23 September 2026: the fourteen allergens and the sulphite threshold in step 1, the non-prepacked duty in step 4, and the two stage distance selling duty in step 2.
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Allergen information for non-prepacked foods best practice", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/allergen-information-for-non-prepacked-foods-best-practice/allergen-information-for-non-prepacked-foods-best-practice, published 24 February 2025, read 23 September 2026: the one click away placement, the third party website instruction and the written information at delivery, in steps 5 and 6.
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Introduction to allergen labelling for PPDS food", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-to-allergen-labelling-for-ppds-food/introduction-to-allergen-labelling-for-ppds-food, updated 17 July 2026, read 23 September 2026: the definition of prepacked for direct sale and the distance selling exemption in step 3.
- The Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/1218, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/1218/made, made 4 September 2019 and in force 1 October 2021, read 23 September 2026: the labelling duty introduced by new regulation 5A and its exemption for distance sales, in step 3.
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Food safety for food delivery", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/food-safety-for-food-delivery/food-safety-for-food-delivery, published 26 March 2020, read 23 September 2026: the duty to identify and remove cross contamination risks in the delivery process and the separate transit example, in step 7.
- Food Standards Agency and GOV.UK, "Starting a food business", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/starting-a-food-business, updated 19 August 2026, read 23 September 2026: the statement that food sold without face to face contact remains subject to UK law, and the repetition of the two stage allergen duty, in step 2.
- Deliveroo, "Deliveroo Partners Terms and Conditions", https://merchants.deliveroo.com/en-GB/legal/terms, page states last updated 14 January 2021 with later dated sections, read 23 September 2026: the duty to give accurate descriptions "including any relevant allergen advice" and to "take account of any information relating to customer allergies provided with the Delivery Order", in step 8.

# allergen-on-delivery

## You are given
The delivery dish list for every channel the business sells on. The recipe specification behind each dish, naming every ingredient and sub-ingredient. The supplier ingredient declarations behind each recipe, each with a supplier name and a date. The owner's own allergen declaration for each dish, naming the person who declared it, the date, and whether the declaration supports present or absent for each of the fourteen allergens. The current ordering screens and pages for each channel, with a description of where the allergen information sits and how many clicks or taps it is from the dish. The label stock and packaging available for the delivery stage answer, and the owner's chosen wording for it. The owner's classification of each dish as made to order, packed before selection at the premises, or distance sale only. The owner's cross contact controls for packing and carrying, described stage by stage. The owner's protocol for who reads the customer allergy notes field on each platform, on which screen, and what they do when the matrix cannot answer it. All judgement calls, including every allergen declaration, every placement decision, the label wording and the classification of each dish, have already been made by the owner and are supplied to you.

## Produce
Write into a `./allergen-on-delivery-output/` folder:

1. `allergen-matrix.csv` with these columns in this order: `dish_ref`, `dish_name_verbatim`, `channel`, `celery`, `cereals_containing_gluten`, `crustaceans`, `eggs`, `fish`, `lupin`, `milk`, `molluscs`, `mustard`, `peanuts`, `sesame`, `soybeans`, `sulphur_dioxide_and_sulphites`, `tree_nuts`, `declared_by`, `declaration_date`, `declaration_source`. `dish_ref` is D001 upward. Each allergen cell is exactly `present`, `absent` or `not stated`. `declaration_source` is exactly one of `recipe specification supplied`, `supplier declaration supplied`, `no document supplied`. A cell may read `absent` only where `declaration_source` is not `no document supplied`. Every row with `declaration_source` of `no document supplied` is listed in `gaps.md` and every allergen cell on that row reads `not stated`.
2. `channel-placement.csv` with columns: `channel`, `channel_type`, `page_or_screen`, `clicks_or_taps_from_dish`, `notice_wording_verbatim`. `channel_type` is exactly one of `own website`, `own app`, `phone`, `third party platform`, `in person collection`. One row per channel the business sells on. Any row where `channel_type` is `third party platform` and `notice_wording_verbatim` is empty is listed in `gaps.md`.
3. `ppds-classification.csv` with columns: `dish_ref`, `dish_name_verbatim`, `classification`, `guidance_sentence_named`. `classification` is exactly one of `made to order`, `packed before selection at the premises`, `distance sale only`. Every row must carry a `guidance_sentence_named` value; a blank one is listed in `gaps.md`.
4. `delivery-stage-answer.csv` with columns: `dish_ref`, `wording_verbatim`, `container`, `label_position`, `conflicts_with_vent`, `conflicts_with_tamper_seal`. `conflicts_with_vent` and `conflicts_with_tamper_seal` are each `yes`, `no` or `not stated`. Any row where either conflict column reads `yes` is listed in `gaps.md`.
5. `cross-contact-controls.csv` with columns: `control_ref`, `stage`, `description_verbatim`, `container_or_bag`, `applies_to_dish_ref`. `stage` is exactly one of `kitchen`, `packing`, `carrying`. `control_ref` is C001 upward.
6. `notes-field-protocol.csv` with columns: `channel`, `screen_name_verbatim`, `person_role_verbatim`, `read_before_ticket_fired`, `action_when_unanswerable_verbatim`. `read_before_ticket_fired` is `yes`, `no` or `not stated`. Any row with `read_before_ticket_fired` of `no` or `not stated` is listed in `gaps.md`.
7. `gaps.md` a numbered list of: every dish with `declaration_source` of `no document supplied`; every allergen cell reading `not stated` grouped by dish; every third party channel with no notice wording supplied; every dish with no PPDS classification or no guidance sentence named; every delivery stage answer that conflicts with a vent or a tamper seal; every cross contact stage with no supplied control; every channel where the notes field is not confirmed read before the ticket is fired; and any figure or date the owner supplied without a date attached.

## Rules
- Codex records, counts and cross references. It never marks an allergen cell present or absent on its own judgement, never writes a word of the delivery stage wording or the notes field script, and never classifies a dish as made to order or packed before selection. Those were supplied.
- Never mark an allergen cell `absent` from a dish name, a recipe title, a photograph or an assumption. Only a supplied declaration naming the person and the date supports `present` or `absent`. Everything else reads `not stated`.
- Never estimate or infer a declaration for a dish that shares ingredients with another dish. Each `dish_ref` carries its own declaration or its own gap.
- Never write a proportion of customers with allergies, a rate of allergen incidents in independent venues, or any similar benchmark into any file. No published figure exists for a single independent UK venue and none is to be recorded.
- Never mark a channel's allergen information as adequately placed because it exists somewhere in the business. Record the actual clicks or taps from the dish as supplied, and leave the cell `not stated` where the owner did not measure it.
- Never carry a declaration, a placement or a label wording forward from an earlier version of this file. Use only what is supplied in this run, and record a change of supplier, recipe, platform or packaging as a fresh input rather than an update to an old row.
- Use British English, GBP written as `GBP` or the pound sign, and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every dish name, channel name, notice wording and script line is copied exactly as supplied, including its punctuation and capitalisation.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own recipe specifications and supplier declarations, and for their environmental health officer to review. It applies supplied declarations to a draft matrix and is not a food safety verification, allergen testing or a ruling that the information provided complies.

## Return
The absolute path of every file written, the row count of each CSV, the count of dishes on the allergen matrix and the count of `not stated` cells with the dishes they sit on, the count of dishes with `declaration_source` of `no document supplied`, the channel placement table summarised as channel name against clicks or taps from the dish, the count of dishes in each PPDS classification category, the count of delivery stage answers that conflict with a vent or a tamper seal, the count of cross contact controls recorded by stage, the count of channels where the notes field is confirmed read before the ticket is fired against the count where it is not, and the `gaps.md` item count.