An allergen matrix is the most compact way to keep a business’s allergen information in writing and within reach: dishes in the rows, the 14 ingredient categories subject to mandatory declaration in the columns. The template for it is here free as XLSX and CSV, no sign-up, with the official terms per Annex 6 LIV. This article shows how to fill it in correctly, what does not belong in it and how to keep it up to date. The legal basis for the declaration duty in detail is in the article Allergen declaration in restaurants.
What is an allergen matrix, and why does every business need one?
An allergen matrix is a table: all dishes in the rows, the 14 ingredient categories subject to mandatory declaration (Annex 6 LIV) in the columns, a cross everywhere an allergen is in the recipe. It is the internal written foundation on which the declaration towards guests is built.
The duty behind it: anyone who serves food loose must inform about ingredients that can cause allergies or other undesirable reactions (Art. 39 LGV, SR 817.02). Two points from that matter for the matrix:
- Oral information is only permitted if the information is available to staff in writing or a competent person can provide it immediately (Art. 5 para. 1 let. d LIV, SR 817.022.16). So in practice an internal written document is almost always needed.
- The information must be available at the moment the food is offered (Art. 5 para. 3 LIV). “Available” here means: present before the guest orders, not worked out only on request.
Neither the Confederation nor the cantons prescribe a specific form. The leaflets give as examples a table or an information sheet (Food Control Solothurn) and the recipe folder (Cantonal Laboratory Zurich). The matrix is the most compact of these forms: one page, all dishes, all 14 allergens, ready to inform immediately.
The template: 14 allergens, no sign-up
Two files, direct download, no login, no email address:
- Allergen matrix template as XLSX: with example rows and a legend sheet with the full wording of the 14 Annex 6 LIV categories (English follows EU Regulation 1169/2011; the binding text is German)
- Allergen matrix template as CSV: raw, for import into Excel, Google Sheets or your inventory system
The structure: dishes and sub-recipes in the rows, the 14 allergens in the columns (short forms; the full wording is in the EU-14 table in the basics article and in the legend sheet of the XLSX), plus “Updated” and “Checked by”. An “x” means: the allergen is contained in the recipe. This is what the structure looks like, abridged to three example rows:
| Dish | Cereals containing gluten | Crustaceans | Eggs | Fish | Peanuts | Soybeans | Milk (including lactose) | Tree nuts | Celery | Mustard | Sesame seeds | Sulphur dioxide and sulphites | Lupin | Molluscs | Updated | Checked by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable stock (sub-recipe) | x | 01.07.2026 | L. Meier | |||||||||||||
| Pumpkin risotto | x | x | x | 01.07.2026 | L. Meier | |||||||||||
| Breaded schnitzel with potato salad | x | x | x | x | x | 01.07.2026 | A. Keller |
The example rows show the principle: the risotto inherits the celery from the vegetable stock and picks up the sulphites from the white wine; in the potato salad the mustard sits in the dressing and the celery in the bouillon.
The last two columns are not an official form but a safeguard. “Updated” documents that the details are current; the BLV-funded BFH practical guide on allergen labelling expressly requires that the ingredient documentation is always up to date. “Checked by” is our recommendation, not an official requirement: it records who last checked the row against the recipe and labels, and fits the self-monitoring that is the duty of every business (Art. 26 LMG, SR 817.0).
How do you fill in the matrix correctly?
In four steps, always from the label and never from memory: fix the recipes, check the ingredients, enter sub-recipes first, then dish by dish.
- Fix the recipes. Write down every dish with all its ingredients, including fats (e.g. nut oil), dressings (e.g. mustard), sauces (e.g. egg in the mayonnaise), garnishes (e.g. sesame) and bouillon (e.g. celery). These are exactly the hidden carriers that the BFH practical guide lists for storing recipes.
- Check the ingredients. Go through the labels and supplier specifications of the products actually used. Whether a product contains an allergen is decided by the manufacturer’s recipe, not by memory.
- Sub-recipes first. Record stocks, sauces and marinades as their own rows. Their allergens then move into every dish row that the sub-recipe is part of; in the example above, that is why the celery from the vegetable stock also appears in the risotto.
- Row by row. For each dish go through all 14 columns, then fill in “Updated” and “Checked by”. Not sure whether the new soy sauce contains wheat? Look it up, don’t guess.
What does not affect the matrix: portion size. Scaling changes quantities, not ingredients; for converting there is our free recipe scaler.
What does not belong in the matrix?
Blanket traces notices. The crosses stand for ingredients in the recipe, not for everything that could theoretically come into contact with the dish in the kitchen.
The legal background: unintentional mixing does not have to be indicated in loose sale (Art. 5 para. 1 let. f LIV). But the responsible person must be able to demonstrate that they have taken measures against such cross-contamination as part of good procedural practice (Art. 11 para. 6 LIV). And the risk is real: the BFH practical guide names deep-frying oil as well as shared pans, equipment and serving utensils as typical sources and rates the cross-contamination risk in restaurants as high.
A “may contain traces of everything” in every row still does not replace a clean declaration of the ingredients actually in the recipe; it makes the matrix worthless as a basis for information, because real crosses can no longer be told apart from precautionary ones. Whoever wants to record cross-contamination risks documents them separately: which risks exist and which measures the business takes against them.
Towards guests, by contrast, a voluntary, general notice makes sense: according to the BFH survey, around three quarters of those affected consider it important to be informed by the business about possible cross-contamination. As a compromise the guide proposes a notice that names the co-processed allergens and refers guests to the staff.
How do you keep the matrix up to date?
Only with fixed triggers: every recipe change, every product or supplier switch and every new delivery. A matrix without a maintenance routine is correct on the day it is created and a risk after that, because an out-of-date document does not meet the condition that “the information is available to staff in writing”.
The BFH practical guide turns this into concrete rules: with every new delivery, compare the ingredient lists and specifications against the stored versions, because suppliers have no duty to flag recipe changes; when things change, update all documents, from the recipe to the menu card. The matrix belongs on that list, and the “Updated” column makes the maintenance traceable.
This gets genuinely demanding with nested recipes. If the new bouillon suddenly contains celery and barley extract, that affects the vegetable stock, every sauce made from it and every dish with that sauce. By hand this means: work through the whole chain, correct every affected row, update the date everywhere. With every change, all year round.
This is exactly the problem we are building Trolevo for: recipes with nested sub-recipes whose allergens roll up automatically, from all ingredients and sub-recipes, into one allergen label per dish. Change the sub-recipe, and all affected dishes change with it. This helps you meet the labelling duty; responsibility for correct information stays with the business. Trolevo is in development – get early access.
Do guests have to see the matrix?
No. The matrix is an internal working document: it is kept by staff, for instance in the service folder or at the pass, and is what makes the oral information reliable in the first place. Towards guests the declaration runs via the menu, a poster or the clearly visible written notice with oral information; the formats and conditions are in the article Allergen declaration in restaurants.
As a guest-facing labelling system the matrix is poorly suited anyway: in the BFH survey, 72 % of those affected rated allergenic ingredients written out in full as “completely understandable”; the matrix scored markedly worse. For the guest side the guide recommends writing them out and tends to advise against coding systems. Internally the opposite holds: for staff it does not get more compact than one page with 14 columns.
Two things are therefore essential: staff know where the current matrix is kept, and they are trained in handling allergen enquiries. Training staff is an express recommendation of the BFH guide and part of the approach that GastroSuisse also recommends. The template above covers the written part; the rest is routine in the business.
Sources
- LIV – FDHA Ordinance on Food Information, SR 817.022.16 (German, as of 1 July 2025)
- LGV – Foodstuffs and Utility Articles Ordinance, SR 817.02 (German, as of 1 July 2025)
- LMG – Foodstuffs Act, SR 817.0 (German, as of 1 October 2024)
- BLV – Information in loose sale (German)
- Cantonal Laboratory Zurich – Leaflet “Foodstuffs placed on the market loose” (MD-00083, PDF) (German)
- Food Control Canton of Solothurn – Leaflet on allergen labelling in loose sale (PDF) (German)
- BFH – Practical guide to allergen labelling in loose sale, 2nd edition 2020 (PDF, funded by the BLV, with aha! Allergy Centre Switzerland) (German)
- GastroSuisse – Allergenic foods (German)
This article is general information, not legal advice. The binding texts are the statutes (LMG, LGV, LIV) and the information provided by the cantonal enforcement authorities.