What is managing allergens and dietary options for?
Managing allergens and dietary options correctly improves food safety, supports traceability and reduces errors in managing your recipes.
The system automatically detects the allergens present in your ingredients and displays them in every recipe that uses them. It also automatically classifies recipes as Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher or Gluten-free when all their ingredients meet that condition. This guarantees error-free classification and removes oversights from manual processes in your recipes and productions.
Step by step: manage allergens and dietary options in tspoonlab
Below is the definitive guide to correctly register both the allergens and the dietary options of your business. The process has three steps:
Create the allergen or dietary option.
Assign it to the relevant products.
Let tspoonlab automatically update every recipe that uses those products.
Create a new allergen or dietary option manually
If you need to create an allergen or a dietary option that does not exist on the platform, follow these steps:
Go to the tspoonlab options dropdown menu in the top-right corner of the screen and click the "Allergens and food options" option.
Select the three-dot icon next to the search bar. Choose the "Add allergen" option.
In the pop-up window, in the "Allergen" field type the name of your custom allergen or dietary option (for example: Celery or Gluten-free). You can also add a "code" if you need one.
In the "Type" field, select whether it is an Allergen or a Dietary option.
You can also add a comment if needed. Then click "Ok" to save the changes.
📌 Note: To help you quickly identify each item in the "Allergens and food options" list, allergens appear with a fork icon, while dietary options are clearly distinguished with a food-bowl icon.
Add allergens and dietary options to your products
Once the allergen or dietary option is created, the next step is to assign it to the relevant products. If you are wondering how to indicate whether a product is suitable for people with coeliac disease, or how to add an allergen to a raw material, remember that this is done directly from the product's own record in tspoonlab.
Go to the "Offer" section, in the block called "Ingredients". Find and select the generic or specific product you want to edit.
Scroll to the section titled "Allergens" within the product. Click the three dots for that section and click the "Edit" option.
Select the relevant allergen or dietary option from the dropdown list. If applicable, also tick the traces indicator.
Click the "Ok" button to finish.
📢 Warning: Keeping your database up to date is essential. Always set allergens or dietary options directly on the product page. This way, any future recipe or recipe costing that uses that ingredient automatically inherits all the information in tspoonlab.
How tspoonlab automatically applies allergens and dietary options to recipes
Once you save the data on the product page, tspoonlab calculates and automates the information on your dishes in two completely different ways, depending on the type of restriction:
How "Allergens" work: the system automates allergen calculation, declaring them in your recipes and recipe costings immediately as soon as they are detected in any of your raw materials. When you go to "Offer" > "Recipes" (or "Dishes") and open a recipe costing that includes that product, the allergen is automatically reflected in the allergens section of the recipe record. A single ingredient containing the allergen is enough for it to appear automatically in the recipe.
How "Dietary options" work: the system automates dietary options (such as Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher or Gluten-free dishes), marking the final dish with that condition only when every component of a recipe costing or dish meets it and has that option selected in its technical sheet. If a single ingredient does not have that dietary option set, tspoonlab will not automatically classify the recipe with that condition.
📢 Warning: If you have set a dietary option (for example, Vegan) and the dish is not automatically classified with that condition, review the ingredients involved in that recipe. If a single ingredient in the recipe costing is left blank, tspoonlab cancels the automatic classification of the recipe to prevent errors and guarantee full food safety.
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