By December 13th every restaurant, hotel, pub, take away, motorway service station, café owner and festival caterer, as well as schools, hospitals and prison meals services, will have to accurately track, record and communicate to the public what menu items contain any of 14 of the most common foods to cause allergic reactions, such as nuts, shellfish and eggs.

Some 8bn out-of-home meals are served every year. With up to 2% of people suffering food allergies and up to 20% believing they have some kind of food allergy, according to NHS figures, there could be millions of requests for information for food businesses to deal with.

The British Hospitality Association is launching a guidance toolkit to help caterers and restaurants implement the new regulations and cope with requests for information.

Jackie Grech, policy director for the BHA says: “These new regulations will make it easier for people to get information about which allergies are present in the food they are eating out of home.

“Food businesses will be expected to learn how best to communicate these new regulations to their customers and the BHA is today launching a toolkit, forum and workshops to help food businesses of all sizes.”

She said the challenge would be greatest for restaurants who frequently change recipe or menu items; pop-up or event caterers; establishments with high staff turnover; and smaller establishments which may struggle with the resources to track, identify and record all allergens used from main dishes through to garnishes and drinks.

The BHA has calculated it could cost the industry up to £200m a year to implement new sourcing and management processes, adapt menus and websites and regularly brief and train staff.