Menu allergen matrix
The allergen matrix is your menu. That's the whole problem with templates.
One row per dish, nine allergen columns, and a note column for the real risks in your kitchen. Everything useful about it is the part that has your food in it. Here is what goes in one, how to build it, and the mistake that shows up in nearly every chart still circulating.
Free to build. You see the whole thing before anything is asked of you.
01Start here
There are nine, and most charts still say eight.
Milk · Eggs · Fish · Crustacean shellfish · Tree nuts · Peanuts · Wheat · Soy · Sesame
FASTER Act — sesame added 1 January 2023
Sesame is the ninth. It was added three years ago and a great many templates, posters and printed matrices still list eight. If you are copying a chart from somewhere, count the columns first.
02What one looks like
A row per dish, filled in.
Here are three rows from a real one, to show what “filled in” actually means.
| Menu item | Milk | Eggs | Wheat | Soy | Sesame | Notes / may contain | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buttermilk fried chicken | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — | Shared fryer with breaded fish | 12 Sep |
| House burger, brioche bun | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Bun contains sesame | 12 Sep |
| Garden salad, no dressing | — | — | — | — | — | Dressings vary — check per order | 12 Sep |
03The hard part
Cross-contact is invisible, and cooking does not fix it.
This is the distinction that catches kitchens out, and it is worth being precise about.
Cross-contamination is bacteria moving between foods. Cooking deals with it.
Cross-contact is allergen protein moving between foods. Cooking does absolutely nothing to it. The same fryer oil, the same tongs, the same board — heat does not remove it and you cannot see it.
That is what the notes column is for. Not a blanket “may contain everything” sprayed down the page, which tells an allergic customer nothing. Specific, real risks: this goes in that fryer.
04When it goes wrong
Remade from scratch. Not picked over.
- 1
A wrong answer gets corrected before the food goes out
Not after. If someone realises halfway that the answer was wrong, the plate stops.
- 2
An allergy order made without the procedure is remade from scratch
On clean equipment. You cannot remove a crouton and call it gluten-free — the contact already happened.
- 3
A dish with an allergen that is not on the matrix gets pulled
Off the menu until the matrix is corrected and the staff have been told. Both, not just the paperwork.
- 4
It goes on the corrective action log
This is exactly the kind of deviation that log exists for.
05Keeping it true
A special that isn't on it is a dish nobody can answer for.
The matrix stops being useful the moment the menu moves past it. A Friday special nobody added is a dish where the honest answer to “does this have nuts?” is “I don’t know” — and that answer is not acceptable.
Review it whenever the menu changes, date the review, and make sure the person in charge genuinely knows what is in every dish. Staff do not need to memorise it. They need to know to check it rather than guess.
06Being straight with you
Why there is no blank one here.
Why there’s no blank one to download
Every other sheet on this site is a grid you can print and start using. This one is not, and handing you an empty version would be pretending otherwise.
A blank allergen matrix is ten empty columns and no dishes. The work was never the grid — it is knowing what is in each item on your menu, and no template can do that part for you.
What we can do is start from your menu. Photograph it during the intake and the dishes come across automatically, with the allergen questions asked dish by dish. You end up with a matrix that has your food in it, which is the only kind worth having on the wall.
07Getting it wrong
What an inspector notices.
Eight allergen columns
Sesame has been the ninth since January 2023. A chart with eight columns is out of date on its face.
'May contain' on every single row
It reads as a disclaimer rather than a control, and it leaves an allergic customer no better off.
Specials and seasonal dishes missing
The matrix only covers what is on it. Anything else is a dish nobody can answer questions about.
No review date
Without one there is no way to tell whether the matrix matches the menu currently being served.
08Questions
The things people ask.
How many major allergens are there in the US?
Nine. Milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy — and sesame, which became the ninth under the FASTER Act on 1 January 2023. If a chart you are copying lists eight, it is out of date.
What is cross-contact, and how is it different from cross-contamination?
Cross-contamination is about bacteria, and cooking deals with it. Cross-contact is allergen protein moving from one food to another, and cooking does nothing at all. The same fryer oil, the same tongs, the same board. It is invisible and heat does not remove it.
Should I just write 'may contain' on everything?
No. Sprayed across the whole menu it becomes noise and tells a customer with an allergy nothing useful. Use it where there is a real, specific risk in your kitchen — a shared fryer, a shared prep surface you cannot fully separate.
How often does it need reviewing?
Every time the menu changes, including specials. A Friday special that is not on the matrix is a dish nobody in the building can answer questions about. That is why the matrix has a 'reviewed on' column.
Someone got a wrong answer. What now?
Correct it before the food is served. If an allergy order was prepared without the procedure, it gets remade from scratch on clean equipment — not picked over. If a dish turns out to contain something not on the matrix, pull the dish until the matrix and the staff are both updated, and record it on your corrective action log.
Do I need one if I package food for the shelf?
Then you need more than a matrix. Food packaged on site for retail sale needs a full ingredient list and allergen statement — the kind a factory would put on it.
Photograph the menu, answer the allergen questions dish by dish, and the matrix comes out with your food already in it.
A dish found with an allergen that is not on the matrix also belongs on the corrective action log, which is free to print.