What is Natasha's Law?
Natasha's Law is the everyday name for the Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019, in force since 1 October 2021. It's named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died in 2016 after an allergic reaction to a baguette bought from a shop that made and packaged it on the premises — food that, at the time, didn't legally need a full ingredients list because of how and where it was packed.
The law closed that gap. Food that's prepacked for direct sale — PPDS food — now has to carry the same kind of ingredients list as anything sold pre-wrapped from a supermarket shelf.
What counts as PPDS food?
PPDS (Prepacked For Direct Sale) food is packaged on the same premises it's sold from, before a customer orders or selects it. In a typical kitchen, that covers things like:
- Sandwiches, wraps or rolls made up in advance and put in a chiller or display case
- Cakes, traybakes or pastries wrapped and put out on a counter
- Ready meals or salads packaged and shelved for grab-and-go
- Pizza or other food sealed cold for takeaway before it's ordered
It generally does not cover food wrapped in front of the customer after they've ordered it, food made to order and served immediately, or loose deli-counter items weighed at the point of sale — though the exact line can depend on your setup, so it's worth checking against official FSA guidance if you're unsure.
What has to be on a PPDS label
The specific requirement Natasha's Law added is:
- The name of the food
- A full ingredients list, in descending order of weight
- The 14 legally recognised allergens emphasised within that list — by bold, capitals, italics, underline or colour contrast, wherever they appear
How Kitchen Control's PPDS Label helps
Every Dish in Kitchen Control that's sold prepacked can have a PPDS Label printed straight from its own page — no separate spreadsheet or re-typing the ingredients by hand.
It also flags a gap before you print: if a dish uses a bought-in item like a sauce or a stock cube that has no ingredients breakdown recorded against it, Kitchen Control tells you which ones are missing before you rely on the label being complete.
What you're still responsible for
Kitchen Control's PPDS Label reflects whatever's recorded against your ingredients and recipes — it's only as accurate as that data. A few things worth checking before you rely on it:
- A compound ingredient's own Full Ingredients List (e.g. a bought-in sauce's pasted-in ingredients) isn't scanned word-by-word for allergens — only allergens you've actually ticked against that ingredient get picked up and emphasised.
- Your business's name and address only appear on the label once you've entered them in Settings — until then, that line is simply left off rather than printed blank.
- It's not a substitute for your own HACCP plan, staff training, or a qualified food safety consultant if your operation needs one.
PPDS Label is included in every Kitchen Control plan — build out your dishes and recipes and see the label it generates before deciding it's right for your kitchen.
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