Labelling Additives in Hospitality: the guide for your menu

Many restaurateurs assume that the allergen information already covers everything – this is a common misconception. Labelling additives and labelling allergens are two separate obligations with different purposes. Allergen labelling protects people from potentially dangerous health reactions, whereas additive labelling informs all guests about certain technologically used substances in the dishes.

• Allergens and additives follow different rules and lists – one declaration does not replace the other.
• Additives must be labelled regardless of whether a dish also contains allergens.
• The requirement applies to non-prepacked food, meaning dishes and drinks served at the table or counter without retail packaging.
• Bought-in intermediate products can also contain additives subject to declaration, which you must pass on to your guests.
• The duty applies equally to restaurants, cafés, snack bars, delivery services and any form of communal catering.

In practice, this means you must maintain both forms of labelling cleanly side by side, often on the same menu. Anyone who only states the allergens does not fulfil the additive obligation – and vice versa. A clear, separate system saves you later rework and uncertainty.

Certain categories of additives, along with some special treatments and ingredients, are subject to declaration. What matters is whether the substance is actually present in the specific dish – not every dish is affected. Use your recipes and your suppliers' information to get an overview of which of your dishes fall under the duty.

The common categories at a glance

• Colourings and preservatives are among the most frequently declared additives.
• Antioxidants, flavour enhancers and sweeteners must also be declared.
• Phosphates as well as sulphured, waxed or blackened products require their own labelling.
• Caffeine and quinine are substances that must be labelled separately, for example in certain drinks.
• For sweeteners and some other substances, additional warning notes may be prescribed, which you should include.

The exact wording of the notes – such as "with colouring" or "with flavour enhancer" – is prescribed and should be adopted exactly. When in doubt, check the currently applicable requirements or have them confirmed by a qualified source before you print the menu.

The most common and clearest approach is labelling through footnotes with a legend. Each additive is given a number or abbreviation that appears after the relevant dish and is explained in a legend. This keeps the menu readable, and guests find all the information in one central place.

1. 1Compile a list of all additives and special treatments subject to declaration that appear in your dishes.
2. 2Assign each substance a unique number or abbreviation and use these to define a fixed legend.
3. 3Mark each affected dish with the matching numbers, directly after the name or the price.
4. 4Place the complete legend clearly visible on the menu, for example at the bottom of the page or on a dedicated page.
5. 5Use the exact prescribed wording and check that every number used is also explained in the legend.
6. 6Have the finished menu proofread so that no dish and no additive is overlooked.

Depending on the establishment, alternatives to footnotes may also be permitted, such as a notice or written information on request. What matters is that the information is easily accessible to guests and that you apply your chosen method consistently.

A menu is a living thing: dishes change, suppliers are swapped, new products are added. This is exactly where most errors arise, because the additive information does not keep pace with the changes. It is therefore important to keep the labelling identical across all output channels – on the printed menu, the board and the digital menu.

• Recheck the additive information with every recipe change, even for seemingly small adjustments.
• Request up-to-date product data whenever you change suppliers, as new intermediate products may contain different additives.
• Keep the paper menu, the board and the digital menu in sync so that the same information appears everywhere.
• Pay attention to seasonal and daily dishes, which change quickly and are easily served without labelling.
• Document where your information comes from so that you can trace and substantiate it at any time.

The fewer places you have to maintain manually, the lower the risk that a menu becomes outdated. A single source for your dish data helps avoid contradictions between the output channels and keeps the information reliably up to date.

With the gastronomx digital menu you maintain additives in a structured way per dish. Instead of managing footnotes by hand across several documents, you store the information once centrally on the relevant dish – which keeps the legend consistent automatically.

Maintained centrally, displayed multilingually

Because the additives are stored directly on the dish, they appear wherever the dish is shown – on the QR menu and in the digital menu alike. If you change a recipe, you adjust the information in one place, and the menu stays coherent everywhere. This reduces the risk of contradictory versions between channels.

The multilingual output ensures that your guests can follow the labelling in their own language, without you having to maintain each translation separately. This keeps the information clear, uniform and accessible to all – a practical building block that eases your ongoing maintenance, while the professional responsibility for correct labelling naturally remains with you.