From September 2026, new statutory guidance will strengthen allergy safety requirements in schools across England. Known as Benedict’s Law, the changes place greater emphasis on allergy policies, staff awareness, individual healthcare plans and consistent processes for supporting pupils with allergies.

For education caterers, this brings allergen management firmly into focus – from the ingredients being purchased to the recipes being prepared and the information provided to pupils, parents and staff.

What does it mean for catering teams?

Accurate allergen information needs to be readily available and kept up to date. Operators should consider:

• Reviewing recipes and menus regularly
• Ensuring supplier and ingredient information is accurate
• Managing allergen information when products or recipes change
• Making allergen information accessible to customers
• Ensuring catering teams understand allergen procedures
• Reviewing PPDS and grab-and-go food labelling

This is particularly important for schools with multiple catering outlets, rotating menus or centralised procurement, where managing product and allergen information manually can become difficult.

Beyond education

While Benedict’s Law specifically applies to schools, the principles are relevant to leisure and hospitality operators too.

Hotels, restaurants, sports clubs, visitor attractions and leisure venues all have a responsibility to provide accurate allergen information. With families and children making up a significant proportion of visitors to many venues, having clear and reliable information is an important part of delivering a safe and confident customer experience.

Using technology to simplify allergen management

For Regency members, technology can help make this process considerably easier.

Our allergen and menu management solution, CaterCloud, brings ingredients, recipes, menus, nutritional information and allergen data together in one system. Product information can be linked from the supply chain through Freshmarkets, helping operators keep menu and allergen information aligned with the products they actually purchase. Changes to ingredients can then flow through to recipes and menus, reducing the need for manual updates.

For multi-site operators, this can provide greater consistency across menus while also supporting day-to-day compliance and menu management.

A timely opportunity to review your processes

Benedict’s Law provides education operators with a useful prompt to review how allergen information is managed across their catering operation. For leisure and hospitality businesses, it is equally an opportunity to look at whether current systems provide the accuracy, visibility and consistency that customers and teams need.

At Regency, we can support members not only through purchasing and supplier management, but through solutions such as CaterCloud and Freshmarkets that connect procurement with menu and allergen management.

Better purchasing data, better menu visibility and better allergen management can all contribute to a safer, more efficient foodservice operation.

Get in touch for more information on our menu management solutions, or to find out more about this latest legislation.