Most catering companies and stores still do not properly inform customers about food allergens. This is evidenced by the inspections carried out by the Dutch Consumer and Food Safety Authority (NVWA) in 2022 in 13,000 companies.

For unpackaged products, companies must state in advance which of the 14 allergens they contain. This can be done by card on display, on the menu, or verbally. For example, gluten, nuts, and milk can cause a strong allergic reaction in some people.

But NVWA inspections show that six out of ten companies are not properly reporting to customers. The numbers for 2022 are comparable to those for 2021.

The hospitality industry is doing better than it has been in 2021. NVWA visited 9,407 businesses in this sector. Of these, 41 percent meet the conditions, in 2021 this percentage was 35 percent. Of hospitals and nursing homes, 65 percent passed inspection, which means the score is slightly better than last year.

But supermarkets and Toko’s aren’t doing as well as they did in 2021: Of the 1,171 businesses NVWA visited, 38 percent were complying with the rules. In 2021 it was 59%.

In craft businesses, such as bakers, butchers, and ice cream parlors, results were about the same as last year. Of the 2,256 companies visited, 48 percent had sufficient information.