Edible Gifts Catering to Specific Allergies, Diets & Religions
In this 5 minute read, I discuss the considerations a food business like mine need to make for specific dietary requirements. This includes allergies, diet groups such as diabetics or vegans and various religious groups. The UK takes food standards seriously and with the help of Environmental Health and Trading Standards, the Food Standards agency can maintain levels of food business expectations to minimise risk to public health.
July 2023 – Leanne Nuttall
What are the Legal UK Requirements for Food Labelling?
As a food business, knowing how to cater for specific allergies and diets forms part of the requirements stipulated by Environmental Health and the Food Standards Agency in the UK. Food businesses now also have to adhere to the principles of Natasha’s Law that came into effect on 1st October 2021.
I believe it’s Important to be ethical and legitimate when retailing edible products, therefore I have:
Complete Food Hygiene courses ✔️
Registered with Environmental Health who have approved my work space and allocated me a maximum rating of 5 Food Standard ✔️
Liaised with Trading Standards who were happy with the practices I have put in place ✔️
Fully Insured ✔️
I have also completed a number of continued development courses over the years I have run Bloomin’ Sweet Delights. The two that relate specifically to my edible gifts business are:
CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Nutrition and Health
TQUK Level 2 Certificate in Understanding the Care and Management of Diabetes
Alongside using food safe packaging, I ensure any edible which does not have ingredients & allergens printed on its packaging has this information provided separately – hence the ‘clunky’ labels on some products, which is a requirement set out by law.
Departments such as Environmental Health, Trading Standards and the Food Standards Agency are all accessible for both consumers and sellers, I found them to be valuable in assisting me create a robust and successful side hustle.
Q. Do you handle edibles in your business? If you want to find out if Natasha’s Law applies to you, more information is online at https://www.food.gov.uk/allergen-ingredients-food-labelling-decision-tool
I recall in the beginning months of starting out my business I received an enquiry asking if I could supply a gluten free bouquet and so I began an in-depth search of suitable confectionery. I quickly realised I would be restricting myself if I just designed products to my taste buds. Since then, I have expanded my range to include vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, nut free and Halal products.
Allergies
The most common requests I receive are for nut free or dairy free bouquets.
Sometimes the nut free requests can be tricky if the allergy is severe and the recipient is not even able to have products that have been produced in a factory that makes other products which contain nuts despite the actual confectionery I want to put in their bouquet having no nuts in their ingredients list. This is why checking the information on packaging in extremely important to me.
Whilst my gluten free request back in 2016 never culminated in an actual product, these days more and more people are gluten free therefore I am currently researching and developing a gluten free bouquet and sweet cone.
Diet Groups
One of my regular customers has a diabetic family member which means for their edible gift orders I will also include details of the nutritional values of the confectionery along with the ingredients for them to manage their sugar intake whilst enjoying a sweet treat.
Vegetarian and vegan diets have become increasingly popular since I started my business in 2016. It made perfect sense to create product specifically for this dietary group.
Religion
The biggest religious group I regularly cater for are Muslims. My signature and most popular bouquet is my Cadbury Lovers which is Halal suitable, meaning the animal part of the confectionery (namely the milk) has been slaughtered in a specific way.
More recently I have designed a Halal suitable sweet cone full of variety with 10 different types of sweets.
Multiple religions (Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Rastafarian) don’t eat pork which means certain sweets and marshmallows need to be especially checked to establish whether they contain pork or beef gelatine. Often the ingredients just list gelatine and that means I cannot include them because I cannot guarantee it’s beef rather than pork.
This is partly the reason why I regularly produce vegetarian edible gifts because they are suitable for so many more people including those practising Sikhism, Buddhism, and Rastafarian. Although some will extend to consuming milk and can also enjoy the occasional milk chocolate bar!
Do you ever struggle to find confectionery to suit your dietary requirements?
How can Bloomin’ Sweet Delights help you celebrate?
We create a variety of confectionery gifts suitable for that special person, occasion or celebration in your life including:
* Valentines * New Home * Easter
* Baby Showers * Christmas * Birthday
* Christenings *Children’s Parties
* Mothers & Fathers Day * Anniversary
* Graduation Good Luck *Hen / Stag
* Thank You * Wedding Congratulation
We can cater for specific taste buds – Sweet, Savoury, Dark Chocolate, Mint, Orange…Or those with special dietary needs such as Nut Allergy, Dairy or Gluten Free. We have regularly made edible gifts to suit vegetarian, vegan and Halal diets!
Whether it’s a bouquet, sweet cone, chocolate centre fabric flower, filled mugs or sweet jar, we have gifts as unique as the person they are being created for.
The confectionery won’t last long, but the feelings from the gesture will!
Thank you so much for reading!
What Can I Do For You?
If you would like to see more of what I make, head over to the Bloomin’ Sweet Delight Instagram or Facebook profiles and be sure to follow & like for all the latest updates, offers and sweet delights! If you are local to the area and would like to know more about placing an order follow this link to the How to order pages on the website: