Choosing a Natasha's Law labelling provider: what to test before you commit
Plenty of labelling systems say they're Natasha's Law compliant. The claim is easy to make and hard to check from a website, because compliance comes down to whether the label that prints has the right information, formatted correctly, something that is almost impossible to check on a website.
So this is a list of things to test rather than features to compare. Most can be checked during a free trial in under an hour, and a supplier who struggles with any of them is probably not a supplier you want to work with.
Test 1: does it emphasise allergens?
Natasha's Law requires the 14 major allergens to stand out from the rest of the ingredients list by being bold, underlined, capitals or a contrasting colour. Simply including them isn't enough.
Every system needs a human to apply that emphasis at some point, because the software doesn't know which words in your ingredients list are allergens. What matters is when. With Labl.it, you mark the allergens once when you set the product up, and every label printed afterwards carries that formatting. A system that needs staff to format the ingredients at the point of printing has moved the compliance step into service, where it will eventually be missed.
What to test: set up a product with several allergens, then print it on different days with different members of staff and check the formatting holds. Also ask what happens when a recipe changes and a new allergen is added.
Test 2: can it handle a long ingredients declaration?
This is where systems quietly fail. A sandwich with a dressing, a marinade and a bread with six ingredients produces a declaration far longer than a traditional prep label.
What to test: take your most complex product and print it. Check whether the full declaration fits legibly, or whether the text shrinks to something a customer can't read.
Ask about label sizes specifically. Labl.it offers a double height label (80mm, 90 per roll) alongside the standard single height (40mm, 180 per roll) for exactly this reason. A system with only one small label size will struggle with a real PPDS range.
Test 3: what happens when a recipe changes?
Your labels are only as accurate as the record behind them, and recipes move.
What to test: change an ingredient on a product in the back office and print a new label from your device. Count how many steps it took, and, if you run more than one site, check whether the change reached other locations or only the device in front of you.
With Labl.it, products are held centrally in the back office and a change pushes to the whole estate, or to selected sites if items are on regional menus. If a system doesn’t allow a rollout, small changes will begin to eat up crucial admin time.
Test 4: how long does setup actually take?
Every system looks quick in a demo with three products loaded. The real question is what it takes to get your whole range in, because that's the work that determines whether you finish the job or abandon it half-done.
What to test: during a trial, load your entire menu rather than a couple of easy items. Time it. What were the options the supplier gave you? Manual entry on the device, a spreadsheet import, or something that reads your existing menu and automates it?
Labl.it offers all three: products can be added on the device, bulk imported via CSV or spreadsheet through the back office, or generated with the Menu Analyser tool, which scans a menu and outputs ingredients, foods and allergens for someone to review and approve before importing.
Test 5: can staff choose use-by or best-before at the point of printing?
Natasha's Law covers names and ingredients. General UK food law separately requires a date, and which date is required varies by product.
What to test: print two items needing different date types. With Labl.it, staff select use-by or best-before on sale labels at the point of print. A system that forces one or the other for everything simply won’t keep you compliant.
Test 6: what else can go on the label?
PPDS items are sold to customers, so the label often needs more than the legal minimum: a price, your business name and address, a batch code, even a barcode for the till.
What to test: whether custom fields exist and whether you can configure them yourself. Labl.it supports price, address, batch codes and barcodes for POS scanning as part of its sale label setup.
Test 7: what happens when the device breaks?
Overlooked, and more consequential for PPDS than for prep labelling. You can improvise a prep label. You cannot sell a packaged sandwich range without compliant labels, so a broken device on a Friday means either handwriting full declarations (with allergens somehow emphasised) or not selling the items until your device is fixed.
What to ask: the actual replacement process and timescale. Labl.it runs a 24-hour hot-swap with next-working-day replacement and UK-based support. Note that some accidental damage repairs are chargeable, it’s worth establishing with any supplier what's covered and what isn't, rather than discovering it later.
Test 8: what records does it leave?
An EHO assessing your systems wants evidence of consistency over time, not a one-off demonstration that the device can print a compliant label.
What to ask: what's logged automatically? Labl.it's back office keeps a print log of every label and who printed it, plus a history of product amendments showing what changed and when. Not to mention expiry logs, wastage logs, user initials on labels to create an audit trail, and the reports dashboard tool, which can drill down to one site or cover an entire enterprise group.
When you don't need a system
At our core, we want to help hospitality businesses, which means we have to be honest about where you probably don’t need a dedicated system for your Natasha’s Law labelling.
If you produce a small number of PPDS items with stable recipes, then handwritten labels done carefully are legal and can be adequate. The requirement is accuracy, legibility and completeness, not printing.
The case for a system strengthens with range size, staff turnover, recipe change frequency and number of sites. A café with three sandwich lines that never change is in a different position from a group producing forty grab-and-go items across twelve venues.
Where Labl.it fits
Labl.it launched on 1 October 2021, the day Natasha's Law came into force, as the first handheld device for commercial kitchen prep labelling in the UK. PPDS labels are pre-loaded and printed with the product name, full ingredients list and the 14 allergens emphasised. Custom allergens can be added beyond the 14, ensuring total transparency and compliance.
It handles both sides of kitchen labelling, EHO prep labels and PPDS sale labels, on the same device, which matters because most kitchens need both, and running two labelling systems ultimately means one system gets neglected.
Over 3,500 UK kitchens use it, from independent cafés to national groups.
Frequently asked questions
What should I look for in Natasha's Law labelling software?
Allergen emphasis from the product record, a label size that fits long ingredient declarations, central product management so recipe changes reach every label, and a clear replacement process when a device fails.
Do I need special software for Natasha's Law?
No. Handwritten labels are legal if accurate, legible and complete. Software becomes worthwhile as your PPDS range, staff turnover and number of sites grow.
How do I check a system is actually compliant?
Print your most complex product during a trial and inspect the label. Check the allergens are emphasised, the ingredients are complete, the text is legible and the date is right.
Can one device print both prep labels and PPDS labels?
Yes. Labl.it covers EHO prep labels and Natasha's Law PPDS labels on the same device.
What label size do I need for PPDS?
Depends on your declarations. Long ingredient lists need a larger label - Labl.it offers a double height 80mm option alongside the standard 40mm for this reason. Most PPDS labels will usually be double height, due to the requirement for a full ingredients list.
What happens if my labelling device fails?
With Labl.it, a replacement arrives the next working day under the 24-hour hot-swap. Ask any supplier the same question.
Does the system need to keep records?
Not legally, but an inspector assessing your food safety management will place weight on evidence of consistency. Automatic print logs and product amendment histories provide that without anyone maintaining paperwork.
This is practical guidance, not legal advice. For the definitive and most up to date position on Natasha's Law, see the Food Standards Agency at food.gov.uk.
Run the tests yourself
Every test above can be done in your own kitchen, with your own products, in an afternoon.
Labl.it comes with a 14-day free trial. Print your most awkward PPDS item and judge it on the label that comes out. If it isn't right, return it in the prepaid box at no cost.
