diet-versions

---
name: diet-versions
description: Produces the vegan, gluten-free and children's versions of dishes you already cook, each with its own spec, cost, price, allergen record and the exact wording you are allowed to use. Use when you keep being asked and keep improvising.
---

# Have the vegan, the gluten free and the children's version ready before they ask

You give this your current menu, the recipe or spec for the dishes on it, and what you pay for the ingredients. You get back a short list of dishes that can carry a plant-based version, a no-gluten version and a children's version, each written up as a proper dish with its own spec, portion weights, cost, price and allergen record, plus the exact wording you may put on the menu and the wording you may not. It tells you plainly where a version cannot be made safely in your kitchen, and why, instead of writing it anyway.

## What it does

1. **Count the requests you actually get before designing anything.** For two weeks, have the floor write down every dietary request as it happens: what was asked for, which dish it was about, what the kitchen did, whether the customer accepted it, and what the party was worth. Five columns on a sheet by the till. At the end you will have a ranked list that almost never matches what people assume. Design versions for the top three or four requests only. Everything else stays a conversation between the floor and the kitchen, handled dish by dish, which is a legitimate answer as long as it is a consistent one.

2. **Choose the dishes that are already nearly there, not the ones you wish were.** Score each dish on how many changes a version would need. A dish that becomes plant-based by swapping the butter and the stock is a version. One that needs a different protein, a different sauce and a different garnish is a new dish, and belongs on the menu in its own right or not at all. Same for gluten: a dish already free of it except for the bread on the side is a version; one built on a roux is not. Then check the flow, because a version needing its own pan, board and fryer time at eight o'clock on a Saturday will not happen whatever the spec says. Pick two or three dishes per version type, and record which you rejected and why, because that list stops the same argument happening every six months.

3. **Build the plant-based version, and understand exactly what the word vegan claims.** GOV.UK's guidance on vegan food labelling states that "If a food label says that a product is vegan or safe for vegans, it means that no ingredients of animal origin were intentionally used in the making of the product", and immediately adds that "A vegan label does not guarantee that the product contains no ingredients of animal origin." The difference from an allergen claim is set out plainly: "Food safety labels such as 'free-from' or 'allergen-free' are a guarantee that the specified allergen is not in the product. Food businesses who produce 'free-from' or 'allergen-free' food products must follow strict processes to prevent cross-contamination", and businesses are not required to follow those processes to call something vegan. So a vegan dish is a dish with no intentional animal ingredients. It is not a milk-free or egg-free dish, and it must never be offered to a customer with a dairy or egg allergy on the strength of the word vegan. The guidance warns that "Vegan food could be prepared in areas and factories where allergens or ingredients of animal origin are present", and that businesses should use precautionary allergen labelling, "a 'may contain' statement", where a cross-contact risk has been identified.

4. **Build the no-gluten version, then decide honestly whether you may call it gluten free.** The words are regulated and the threshold is a number. The Food Standards Agency's technical guidance states that "foods may be labelled as 'gluten-free' (no more than 20 mg/Kg in the food as sold to the final consumer) or 'very-low gluten' (no more than 100 mg/Kg gluten in the food as sold to the final consumer)", and it is explicit about who this applies to: "These rules surrounding use of the terms 'gluten-free' and 'very-low gluten' apply to all foods including non-prepacked foods such as those served in restaurants." It also notes that even when the claim is made, "the cereal mentioned in Annex II must still be indicated and emphasised in the list of ingredients". A kitchen with one fryer that cooks breaded goods cannot claim gluten free for anything out of that fryer, and a kitchen where bread is cut on the pass has a flour problem it has not measured. Where you cannot evidence the control, the honest wording is "made without gluten-containing ingredients", said with the cross-contact risk stated, and the skill writes that instead.

5. **Build the children's version as a real dish, not a smaller pile of the adult one.** Take the dishes children actually order, which the step 1 sheet will have told you, and spec them properly: portion weights for the protein, the carbohydrate and the vegetable, the plate they go on, the cutlery, and the temperature it leaves the pass at. Set the price against the real cost of that portion, not a round number chosen because it feels like a children's price. Then handle the two things that cause every complaint: it has to arrive before or with the adults' food, and it has to be cool enough to eat. Write both into the spec as instructions to the pass. If you pack a children's meal into a box before the customer chooses it, check the prepacked for direct sale rules first: GOV.UK's introduction to allergen labelling for PPDS food, published 18 January 2021 and updated 17 July 2026, exists to help businesses "check if your business needs to follow allergen labelling requirements, also known as Natasha's Law, and what you need to do to comply with the law", and a boxed meal is the case it was written for.

6. **Write the allergen record for every version before any of them is sold.** Each version is a new recipe, and the government's allergen guidance for food businesses requires allergen information to be "included in recipes or explanations of the dishes provided - you need to consider the impact when recipes change". Go component by component, including the oil, the stock, the sauce, the dressing and the garnish, and read the allergens off the supplier specification rather than off the ingredient's name. The 14 to declare are "celery, cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats), crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters), eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs (such as mussels and oysters), mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (if the sulphur dioxide and sulphites are at a concentration of more than ten parts per million), tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts)". For loose food you may provide "full written allergen information on a menu, chalkboard or in an information pack", or give it "verbally, with a written notice placed in a clearly visible position explaining how your customers can obtain this information", and the guidance's own view is that "written allergen information, supported by a conversation, works best for consumers".

7. **Cost and price each version on its own components, not as a discount from the original.** Build the cost from the swapped ingredients: the plant-based cream instead of the dairy, the gluten-free flour instead of the flour, the smaller protein weight on the children's plate. Some versions cost more than the dish they came from, and the plant-based ones often do. State the cost per portion, the price and the cash gross profit next to the original so the owner sees the comparison rather than assumes it. If a version's margin is materially worse, say so and give two options: price it at its own cost, or accept the margin and say why, which is usually that it brings a table of four that would otherwise go elsewhere.

8. **Write the exact menu wording, and the wording you are not allowed to use.** Produce for each version: the line as it will be printed, the allergen entry, and one sentence for the floor to say. Three wordings are permitted and they mean different things, so the output states which applies and why: "vegan", meaning no intentional animal ingredients and not an allergen claim; "gluten free", only where the 20 mg/kg control can be evidenced; and "made without gluten-containing ingredients", where it cannot. Add a precautionary line naming the specific allergen where a real cross-contact risk exists, rather than a vague category. Then write down the phrases that must not be used: "safe for allergies", "suitable for coeliacs" without the evidence, "dairy free" for a vegan dish that shares a fryer, and "healthy", which is a separate regulated claim this skill does not deal with.

9. **Brief the kitchen and the floor, and write down the controls that make the version true.** For each version, list the separations it depends on: a clean board, a fresh pan, a separate fryer or a dedicated first use, a colour-coded tong, an order of preparation that puts the version first rather than last. Name who checks each one and when. Then brief the floor on exactly two things: what each version is, and what to say when a customer mentions an allergy, which is always to fetch the written allergen information and the chef rather than to reassure. A version that exists on the menu and not in the kitchen's routine is worse than no version at all, because the customer now believes something about their food that nobody in the building has arranged.

## Then it checks

1. Every version recommended is based on a dish already on the menu, names the components swapped, and shows the count of requests from the step 1 sheet that justified it.
2. No version is described as "gluten free" unless the output names the control that keeps it under 20 mg/kg; otherwise it reads "made without gluten-containing ingredients" with the cross-contact risk stated.
3. No vegan version is presented as free from milk, egg, fish, crustaceans or molluscs, and every vegan line makes clear that vegan is not an allergen claim.
4. Every version carries its own allergen record covering all 14 allergens across every component including oil, stock, sauce and garnish, sourced from supplier specifications and dated.
5. Every version shows its own cost per portion, price and cash gross profit next to the original dish, with no version priced by assumption.
6. Every version lists the kitchen controls it depends on, with a named person against each, and the list includes what happens when the fryer, the board or the pan is shared.

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 use the words "gluten free" as a description of effort. They are a regulated claim with a number attached, they apply to restaurant food as much as to packets, and a kitchen that cannot evidence the control has to use different words. Using them loosely is how a coeliac customer gets ill from a dish made with good intentions.
- Never let a vegan claim do an allergen's job. Vegan means no intentional animal ingredients, not free from milk or egg, and the two get confused most often by the people who most need them not to be.
- Never tell a customer with an allergy that a dish is safe. Fetch the written allergen information and the chef. The floor team's job is to get the right person to the table, not to reassure.
- Never write a version you cannot produce at eight o'clock on a Saturday. A spec that only works when the kitchen is quiet fails on the night it matters, in front of the customer least able to absorb the mistake.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's head chef and their environmental health officer to check before it is used. It reads recipes and states arithmetic; it is not food safety or food information law advice, it does not replace your HACCP or Safer Food Better Business records, and no dish in it should be served to a customer with an allergy on this document alone.

## Built from
- GOV.UK, "Understanding food labelling: Vegan food labelling", https://www.gov.uk/understanding-food-labelling/vegan-food-labelling, no publication date shown on the page, read 14 September 2026: the definition of a vegan claim, the statement that it does not guarantee the absence of animal ingredients, the contrast with free-from claims, and the advice to use a "may contain" statement where cross-contact is identified. This is the whole of step 3 and checks 3.
- Food Standards Agency, "Food allergen labelling and information requirements technical guidance", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/food-allergen-labelling-and-information-requirements-technical-guidance/food-allergen-labelling-and-information-requirements-technical-guidance, published 23 August 2023, latest update March 2025, read 14 September 2026: the 20 mg/kg gluten-free and 100 mg/kg very-low-gluten thresholds, the confirmation that they apply to non-prepacked food served in restaurants, the requirement to still emphasise the cereal in the ingredients list, and the principle that precautionary labelling follows a risk assessment. This shaped step 4, step 8 and check 2.
- Department of Health and Social Care and Food Standards Agency, "Allergen guidance for food businesses", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/allergen-guidance-for-food-businesses/allergen-guidance-for-food-businesses, published 2 April 2020 and updated 17 July 2026, read 14 September 2026: the 14 allergens in full, the two lawful routes for loose food, the preference for written information supported by a conversation, and the requirement to consider the impact when recipes change, which is step 6 and check 4.
- Food Standards Agency, "Introduction to allergen labelling for PPDS food", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-to-allergen-labelling-for-ppds-food, published 18 January 2021, last updated 17 July 2026, read 14 September 2026: the existence and purpose of the prepacked for direct sale rules, also known as Natasha's Law, which is why step 5 stops and sends the owner to check before boxing a children's meal.

# diet-versions

## You are given
A folder from a UK hospitality business containing any of: the current menu (PDF, DOCX, text or a photograph), recipe or spec sheets for the dishes on it, sub-recipe sheets for stocks, sauces, dressings and doughs, supplier invoices or a purchase price file, supplier allergen specification sheets (PDF or CSV) and label photographs, the two-week dietary request tally from the floor (a photographed sheet, a CSV or a typed list), and tomorrow's or a typical week's rota.

The folder also contains a decisions file written by the head chef or by Claude. It names, for each version to be built: the original dish, the version type, every component being swapped and what it is swapped to, the portion weights, the selling price, and for any no-gluten version whether the control keeping it under 20 mg/kg can be evidenced and what that control is. Codex builds only the versions named in that file. Where the decisions file does not name a version, do not invent one.

Nothing is consistently named. Some ingredients will have no specification and some will have no invoice.

## Produce
Write into an `output/` folder next to the inputs:

1. `request-tally.csv` with columns in this order: `Date`, `Request as asked`, `Request category`, `Dish asked about`, `What the kitchen did`, `Accepted by customer`, `Party size`, `Party value (GBP)`, `Source sheet`. One row per request on the floor's sheet, transcribed as written including the shorthand.
2. `request-ranking.csv` with columns in this order: `Rank`, `Request category`, `Times asked`, `% of all requests`, `Parties affected`, `Total party value (GBP)`, `Times refused or improvised`, `Tally date range`. Sorted by `Times asked`, highest first.
3. `version-specs.xlsx` with one sheet per version plus a sheet named `Summary`.
   Each version sheet has these columns in this order: `Component`, `Component in the original dish`, `Swapped to`, `Supplier`, `Supplier product code`, `Pack size as printed`, `Invoice number`, `Invoice date`, `Pack price net of VAT (GBP)`, `Price per base unit (GBP)`, `Base unit` (g, ml or item), `Quantity in the portion`, `Line cost (GBP)`, `Specification file held`.
   Under the table, rows labelled: `Total cost per portion (GBP)`, `Original dish cost per portion (GBP)`, `Difference in cost (GBP)`, `Selling price incl VAT (GBP)`, `Selling price excl VAT (GBP)`, `Cash gross profit (GBP)`, `Gross profit % (on excl VAT price)`, `Original cash gross profit (GBP)`, `Difference in cash gross profit (GBP)`.
   The `Summary` sheet has: `Version`, `Version type` (plant-based, no-gluten or children's), `Original dish`, `Components swapped`, `Cost per portion (GBP)`, `Selling price incl VAT (GBP)`, `Cash gross profit (GBP)`, `Gross profit %`, `Original cash gross profit (GBP)`, `Difference in cash gross profit (GBP)`, `Times asked in the tally`.
4. `version-allergen-record.csv` with column A `Version`, column B `Version type`, column C `Original dish`, then exactly 14 allergen columns in this order: `Celery`, `Cereals containing gluten`, `Crustaceans`, `Eggs`, `Fish`, `Lupin`, `Milk`, `Molluscs`, `Mustard`, `Peanuts`, `Sesame`, `Soybeans`, `Sulphur dioxide and sulphites`, `Tree nuts`. Then `Components covered`, `Sub-recipes used`, `Specification files relied on`, `Last checked`.
   Every allergen cell must contain exactly one of `PRESENT`, `NOT PRESENT` or `NOT CONFIRMED`. Never leave a cell empty.
5. `no-specification-held.csv` with columns: `Component`, `Supplier`, `Used in version`, `Allergen columns left NOT CONFIRMED`, `Reason`, `Requested on`.
6. `no-invoice-held.csv` with columns: `Version`, `Component`, `Quantity in the portion`, `Reason`.
7. `wording-slots.csv` with columns in this order: `Version`, `Claim type supplied` (one of `vegan`, `gluten free`, `made without gluten-containing ingredients`, `none supplied`), `Control named in the decisions file`, `Authorised by`, `Date authorised`, `Decisions file reference`, `Draft menu line`, `Precautionary line supplied`, `Status`.
   `Status` is `DRAFT FOR CHECK` only where `Claim type supplied` is not `none supplied`. Otherwise it is `NOT AUTHORISED - no claim type supplied` and the `Draft menu line` is written with no dietary word in it at all.
8. `kitchen-controls.csv` with columns: `Version`, `Control`, `Equipment or surface`, `Shared with`, `Named checker`, `When checked`, `Decisions file reference`.
9. `children-portion-spec.csv` with columns: `Version`, `Component`, `Component type` (protein, carbohydrate, vegetable, sauce, garnish), `Portion weight (g)`, `Plate or bowl`, `Cutlery`, `Temperature leaving the pass`, `Sent before or with the adults' food`, `Source`. Only for versions whose `Version type` is children's.
10. `README.md` - the files read, the tally date range, the number of versions built, and everything that could not be resolved.

## Rules
- **Never infer, assume or deduce an allergen status.** A cell is `NOT PRESENT` only where every component and every sub-recipe in that version is covered by a supplied specification and none of those specifications lists that allergen. Everything else is `NOT CONFIRMED`. Never read an allergen off an ingredient name, a dish name, a recipe, a product name or your own knowledge of what a food usually contains.
- **Never generate a customer-facing claim.** Codex does not decide whether a version may be called vegan or gluten free and does not write a dietary word into any line. It copies the claim type from the decisions file, or writes `NOT AUTHORISED - no claim type supplied`. Never write "gluten free", "dairy free", "nut free", "allergen free", "safe for allergies", "suitable for coeliacs" or "healthy" anywhere in any output unless that exact string is being copied from a supplied input and the column names it as such.
- **Never present a vegan version as free from an allergen.** A vegan claim copied from the decisions file must not cause `Milk`, `Eggs`, `Fish`, `Crustaceans` or `Molluscs` to be written as `NOT PRESENT` in `version-allergen-record.csv`. Those cells are set only by the specifications, exactly as every other cell is.
- Resolve sub-recipes first, then roll their results into every version that uses them. A sub-recipe with one `NOT CONFIRMED` column makes that column `NOT CONFIRMED` in every version that uses it.
- Cross contact never goes in the 14 columns. Where the decisions file names a shared fryer, board, pan or surface, it goes in `kitchen-controls.csv` and in the `Precautionary line supplied` column of `wording-slots.csv`, naming the specific allergen.
- Every price must come from a supplied invoice or price file. Never fill a gap with a web price, a trade average or an estimate. Put the gap in `no-invoice-held.csv`.
- Convert every pack to a price per gram, per millilitre or per single item before costing. Never cost from a case price. Purchase prices go in net of VAT, selling prices as the customer pays them, and gross profit % is calculated on the VAT-exclusive price.
- Where the decisions file flags a children's meal as packed into a box before the customer chooses it, write one line in `README.md` recording that the prepacked for direct sale rules need checking. Do not write a label and do not state whether the rules apply.
- One version is one row and one sheet. A dish with a plant-based version and a children's version is two versions.
- Round only at the point of display, to two decimal places. Line costs must sum to the total cost per portion exactly.
- British English, £, DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes. No emoji.
- Every output file carries, as its first line or its first row, the words: `Working document for the owner's head chef and their environmental health officer to check. Not for service and not for a customer with an allergy on this document alone.`

## Return
A list of the files written with their absolute paths, the number of versions built by type, the count of allergen cells in each of the three states, the number of components with no specification, the number of components with no invoice, any version where every allergen cell came out `NOT CONFIRMED`, and any version whose `Status` in `wording-slots.csv` is `NOT AUTHORISED`.