Meat dishes on a restaurant menu

A chef puts a meat dish on the menu and the kitchen takes on some duties with it. Some are about allergens, some about where the meat came from, and some about how it is cooked. This page sets out the main ones.

Allergens in a meat dish

Food Standards Scotland lists meat products among the places several of the 14 allergens turn up. Its list names celery, egg, cereals containing gluten, mustard, soya and sulphites. Mustard, for example, can be found in marinades as well as meat products.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) puts the duty this way: "If you provide non-prepacked foods, you must supply allergen information for every item that contains any of the 14 allergens." Meals served in a restaurant are non-prepacked food.

A restaurant can write the information on the menu or a chalkboard. Staff can give it by word of mouth instead, with a notice on show telling diners how to ask. The FSA advises that written information, backed by a conversation, works best for diners.

Keeping the supplier's label

The FSA asks kitchens to know what is in every dish they serve. It suggests recording allergen ingredients in writing, and keeping ingredients in their original or labelled containers.

For a bought-in sausage, burger or marinated cut, the supplier's label is where the kitchen finds that information.

Where the meat came from

Defra says meat must be labelled with its country or place of origin when it is sold to the final consumer or to a mass caterer. Its list of catering establishments includes restaurants, pubs, canteens and clubs.

Some menus say where the meat came from. Under food law, food information must not mislead, "particularly" about the "country of origin or place of provenance". So a farm, a county or a country named on a menu has to match what the kitchen bought.

Burgers served pink

The FSA explains that mincing meat for burgers can spread harmful bacteria from the surface of the raw meat right through the burger. It says that unless a burger is cooked "to a temperature of 70°C for two minutes or equivalent, all the way through, these bacteria may survive on the inside."

A restaurant that wants to serve burgers less than thoroughly cooked tells its local council first. The FSA says such businesses "must be able to demonstrate that suitable controls are in place". Those controls include buying the burgers from an approved supplier, or one that can show equivalent controls.

The FSA also suggests wording for the menu:

"Burgers cooked rare and medium rare carry a higher risk of food poisoning. Unlike a steak, a burger needs to be cooked through to reduce that risk."

The FSA says it would not be appropriate to put these burgers on a children's menu.

Planning safe cooking

In England and Wales, the FSA publishes Safer food, better business (SFBB) packs for small caterers. They cover cross-contamination, cleaning, chilling and cooking, with a diary for the kitchen's own checks. Northern Ireland has its own safe catering guidance.

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