United Kingdom sees sharp rise in food recalls over allergen labeling errors

In 2025 the United Kingdom recorded 141 food product recalls, a 23% increase from the previous year, according to data from the Korean Agricultural Trade Agency (aT). Allergen‑related alerts reached 85 cases, the highest level in six years. Most of the recalls were not due to product quality problems but to missing allergen information, label mismatches, or packaging inconsistencies.

A notable incident involved a domestically sold snack that was recalled after it was found to lack proper labeling for milk, soy and gluten. Officials emphasized that export companies must treat allergen labeling as an integrated product‑information management issue from development through to export, noting that gaps between departments can turn into recall risk.

"Our export firms need to view allergen labeling as a comprehensive process, not just a labeling task," an aT spokesperson said, urging tighter coordination across product development, ingredient sourcing, production, packaging and export documentation.