5 questions about food allergens and how to manage them correctly

Food allergens are substances present in certain ingredients that can trigger allergic reactions — ranging from mild symptoms such as itching or skin rashes to anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal. In a restaurant context, ignoring or hiding this information can endanger customers' lives.

The European regulation EU No. 1169/2011 on consumer information and national legislation in Romania require all food industry operators — including restaurants, cafés, and food trucks — to declare the presence of allergens in the dishes served.

The 14 major allergens regulated are:

• Gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats)
• Crustaceans
• Eggs
• Fish
• Peanuts
• Soy
• Milk and dairy products
• Tree nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.)
• Celery
• Mustard
• Sesame
• Sulfur dioxide and sulfites
• Lupin
• Mollusks

For more details on legal obligations, read the complete guide to food allergens and legal obligations in Romania.

One of the most common food allergen questions comes from restaurant owners who don't know how to present this information clearly and without errors. There are a few essential rules:

• List allergens per product, not generically for the entire menu.
• Use standardized names according to the European regulation, not informal variants.
• Update information immediately when you change a dish's recipe.
• Don't hide allergens in small print or hard-to-access sections.
• Clearly mark products that may contain traces of allergens from cross-contamination.

With Menivo, each product on the menu has a dedicated allergen field. You can associate them directly when adding or editing a dish, and customers will see them instantly when scanning the QR code. Discover how it works in detail in the article how to correctly add them to each product.

Yes — and this is one of the features that sets Menivo apart from traditional solutions. The platform has an artificial intelligence-based allergen generator that analyzes the entered ingredients and automatically suggests the corresponding allergens from the list of the 14 regulated ones.

The process is simple:

• Add or edit a product on the menu.
• Enter the list of ingredients in the dedicated field.
• The AI analyzes the recipe and proposes the relevant allergens.
• You confirm or adjust the suggestions before saving.

This tool significantly reduces the risk of human error and saves valuable time, especially if you have an extensive menu. Read the detailed guide: how to use the AI-based food allergen generator.

However, keep in mind that AI is a supporting tool — final responsibility for the accuracy of information always rests with the restaurant operator.

Failure to comply with the allergen declaration obligation exposes the restaurant to several types of risks:

• Risks to customer health — An allergic customer who consumes an incorrectly declared product may suffer a serious reaction, including anaphylaxis.
• Legal sanctions — ANPC and DSP (Romanian consumer protection and public health authorities) can impose significant fines following inspections. Fines can reach tens of thousands of lei, and in serious cases, business suspension may be ordered.
• Reputational damage — A public incident related to allergens can destroy a restaurant's reputation within hours, especially in the age of social media.
• Civil and criminal liability — If a customer suffers harm due to missing information, the restaurant owner can be held legally liable.

The easiest way to avoid all these risks is to display allergens correctly and up to date on a digital QR menu, where updates are made instantly, with no reprinting costs.

Menivo is built specifically for the needs of modern restaurants and includes everything you need to manage food allergens correctly and efficiently. Here's what you can do concretely:

• Add allergens per product directly from the product editor, through a simple checkbox-style selection.
• Use the AI generator to automatically identify allergens based on the entered ingredients.
• Customers see the allergens immediately upon scanning the QR code, without needing to ask the waiter.
• Update information instantly — with no reprinting costs, no delays.
• Add nutritional values alongside allergens, for full transparency toward customers — learn more about the Menivo nutritional values calculator.

The steps to get started are simple:

• Sign up at menivo.io.
• Add your restaurant with basic information.
• Create categories and add products with associated allergens.
• Generate the QR code and display it in your restaurant.

If you want a complete step-by-step guide, read the guide to creating a menu in Menivo or discover the complete tutorial for adding products.

Yes, the obligation also applies to beverages. For example, beer contains gluten, sulfited wines contain sulfur dioxide, and some cocktails may include milk, eggs, or nuts. Therefore, all dishes and beverages offered to customers must have their allergens declared.

In Menivo, you can organize your menu into separate categories for food and beverages and associate allergens with each individual product, regardless of category.

Cross-contamination occurs when an allergen accidentally ends up in a product that doesn't contain it as an ingredient — for example, through the use of the same work surfaces, knives, or frying oil for different dishes. This is a serious issue for customers with severe allergies.

Best practice is to include in the product description or ingredients section a clear note such as: "May contain traces of peanuts/milk/gluten due to processing in the same facility."

The ingredients field in Menivo allows you to add these notes for each product, ensuring transparent communication with customers.

Allergen information must be updated every time you change a recipe, switch a supplier for an ingredient, or introduce a new product on the menu. There's no fixed frequency — the rule is: any change in the composition of dishes requires immediate updating of the allergen declaration.

This is one of the great advantages of a digital menu over a printed one. With Menivo, you change information in the dashboard within seconds, and the change becomes instantly visible to all customers who scan the QR code — at no additional cost. Read more about why modern restaurants are giving up printed menus.

Absolutely. In fact, combining the two sets of information is the ideal solution for a complete and transparent digital menu. Today's customers are increasingly attentive to what they eat — whether they have allergies, intolerances, follow a diet, or simply want to make informed choices.

Menivo includes both allergen fields and an AI-based nutritional values calculator, which automatically calculates calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat based on the entered ingredients. Find out everything you need to know in the guide how to use the AI nutritional values calculator.

A good practice is to periodically go through the complete list of products on the menu and check that each dish has its allergens correctly associated. In Menivo, all products are visible in the admin dashboard, grouped by category, so checking is quick and easy.

If you've just started using the platform and have an extensive menu, you can import products from an Excel file, filling in the allergen columns directly in the table, which considerably speeds up the initial setup process.

To get started, follow the quick guide to building your menu in 5 minutes.