Brakes helps customers to cut through calorie labelling legislation

Brakes has created a range of resources to help customers understand how the new calorie labelling legislation impacts their business.

The rules, which take effect from 6 April in England only, require businesses with more than 250 staff to display calorie information of non-pre-packed food and soft drink items, whether consumed on or off the premises.

However, there are exclusions and complications, and therefore Brakes is providing advice to foodservice operators through practical guides and a two-part on-demand webinar that can be accessed at https://www.brake.co.uk/virtual-food-event

In addition, Brakes has partnered with Nutritics to launch the ‘Virtual Chef’, a recipe management tool that feeds from a live list of Brakes’ products and incorporates highlighted allergen and nutritional information.

This helps save time and lowers risk by reducing human error and avoids having to enter data separately for allergens and calories. With a bespoke label design function, outlets can easily comply with legislation for adding calories to menus and providing relevant allergen information.

Gerry Thomas, technical director at Brakes, said: “The feedback we’ve received from customers is that some are unsure about this upcoming legislation and how it applies to them. We’ve therefore tried to create a range of resources that make it as easy as possible for individual operators to ensure that they are compliant with the new rules.”