Recipe Builder (Beta)
Turn ingredients into label-ready outputs — allergens, ingredients lists, nutrition, and front-of-pack style summaries — using official UK guidance and datasets as the reference point.
Best for: small food businesses, recipe developers, caterers, cafés, pubs, and anyone who wants consistent, repeatable label information.
Important: This tool helps you organise and calculate information, but you remain responsible for legal compliance, final label checks, and allergen risk management.
What the Recipe Builder does
The Recipe Builder helps you:
- Build recipes from ingredients (including compound ingredients)
- Create a clean ingredients list (ordered and formatted for labels)
- Identify the 14 declarable allergens in the recipe and highlight them
- Record “may contain” / precautionary allergen statements (PAL) when appropriate
- Calculate nutrition using UK food composition reference data
- Generate summary outputs you can reuse for:
- PPDS labels (Natasha’s Law)
- menus and allergen matrices
- product pages and recipe cards
Why “official UK guidance” matters
Food labelling in the UK has specific rules: labels must be clear, accurate, not misleading, and include mandatory information depending on how food is sold.
We use the following UK references as the “rules of the road”:
1) Core labelling rules (GOV.UK)
- Food labelling & packaging overview: https://www.gov.uk/food-labelling-and-packaging
- Ingredients list rules (including allergens): https://www.gov.uk/food-labelling-and-packaging/ingredients-list
2) The legal framework (legislation.gov.uk)
- Food Information Regulations 2014: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1855/contents
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (UK-retained/assimilated law context):
- Contents: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/contents
- Annex II (list of allergens): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/annex/II
3) Allergen & PPDS guidance (Food Standards Agency)
- Allergen guidance (business overview): https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/allergen-guidance-for-food-businesses
- Allergen labelling for manufacturers: https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/allergen-labelling-for-food-manufacturers
- PPDS (Natasha’s Law) label guidance:
- Main guidance: https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/labelling-guidance-for-prepacked-for-direct-sale-ppds-food-products
- PPDS overview: https://www.food.gov.uk/allergen-labelling-changes-for-prepacked-for-direct-sale-ppds-food
- Precautionary allergen labelling (“may contain”): https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/precautionary-allergen-labelling
4) Nutrition reference dataset (GOV.UK)
To calculate nutrition from ingredients, we reference the UK’s official food composition dataset:
- CoFID overview: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/composition-of-foods-integrated-dataset-cofid
5) Front-of-pack nutrition labelling (UK voluntary scheme)
- DHSC/FSA FoP guidance PDF: https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/fop-guidance_0.pdf
- GOV.UK scheme updates hub: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nutrition-labelling-voluntary-front-of-pack-scheme-updates
How it works (simple)
1) Add ingredients (and quantities) to build your recipe
2) The system totals nutrition using UK reference composition data
3) It flags declarable allergens based on your ingredients (including compound ingredients)
4) You can optionally record PAL (“may contain”) where your supply chain or process requires it
5) You export a label-ready summary for your chosen use-case (PPDS / menu / product page)
What it doesn’t do (yet / ever)
- It can’t “guarantee” allergen safety — cross-contamination is a process issue, not just an ingredients list issue.
- It doesn’t replace supplier specifications, lab testing, or professional review for high-risk products.
FAQ
Does vegan mean “allergen-free”?
Not automatically. Vegan/plant-based products can still contain allergens (or traces) depending on ingredients and cross-contact controls. Always check and manage allergens separately.
When should I use “may contain” (PAL)?
PAL should only be used after a risk assessment shows an unavoidable cross-contact risk that cannot be controlled by your processes.
Is this only for packaged food?
No — it also helps with non-prepacked foods (menus, cafés, restaurants), where allergen information still has to be provided clearly to customers.
Call to action
Ready to build your first recipe?
Start with a simple dish and add ingredients as you go — the outputs update automatically.