NATASHA'S LAW
Ensuring compliance Natasha’s Law has been in force for more than three years, but compliance with it among some businesses isn’t what it could be. But there are label printing solutions out there that can help them to achieve this, and resellers can play a key role in ensuring they do.
It is more than three years since Natasha’s Law came into force in the UK, requiring all food produced and packed for sale in the same premises to provide complete ingredient lists. But not all businesses in the food retail sector are yet fully compliant with the law. The last available statistics at the time of writing come from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in July 2023, which showed that 24% of businesses surveyed admitted that they were not compliant with all the labelling requirements. While it is likely that more businesses are now compliant, some will need to do more, and others will likely be looking for solutions that can speed up the process of producing compliant labelling – and this is where resellers have an important role to play. Help to comply Becky Viccars, internal sales and marketing manager at Toshiba Tec, says that while there is good awareness of Natasha’s Law in the marketplace, it often depends on the size and scale of the operation. “New, start- up, small and independent businesses will often still need educating on the legislative requirements,” she says. “We have several partners who are experts in the hospitality arena and can assist with the latest barcoding solutions to be compliant with Natasha’s Law. “Low-cost, off the shelf, desktop solutions can help small businesses to identify allergens for their customers. This is via intelligent software that identifies on the product label,
name of the food, full ingredients list, with allergenic ingredients emphasised in bold. These are easy to use and implement and enable them to fully comply with the packaging
requirements for pre-packed foods.” Rich Barfield, EMEA Core Portfolio
Marketing for Printers, Printing Supplies, and Environmental Sensors – ATS Division (Asset Tracking Solutions), Zebra Technologies, adds that businesses of all sizes need help to ensure they comply. “I think an effective labelling solution should critically support here by minimising the points of error,” he says. “Imagine the situation: customers are in a hurry. They want to be able to grab their food and go, whether opting for a prepared item from the deli counter or hankering for a hot meal. That means staff are going to be rushed to ring them up, especially as the queue builds. Now is not the time for errors. The reputation of the store as well as customers’ health are on the line. All food prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) must have a label detailing the product name, full ingredient list, and known allergens – no exceptions. “At Zebra we’ve come up with an easy way to help such businesses stay compliant, without making team members do any extra work called PrintKiosk. It enables the user to hook up any Zebra ZD400 or ZD600 Series Desktop Printer with a Zebra CC600 or CC6000 Series Customer Concierge to create an all-in-one kiosk with computing, scanning and printing capabilities. The PrintKiosk can be secured to a table, bench or any other flat surface, and the CC6600 instantly becomes accessible by customers and staff. Better still, it can be connected to your central repository of product ingredients and label formats, so any changes made at head office can be instantly updated across all store locations. “With a few quick on-screen menu taps, your team can print food safety labels or receipts with the proper ingredient or allergen information disclosures. Alternatively, customers could scan a barcode or QR code
Becky Viccars internal sales & marketing manager
toshibatec.co.uk
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New, start‑up, small and independent businesses will often still need educating on the legislative requirements.
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