Food safety & allergens

1. The 14 declarable allergens

EU food law requires these fourteen to be declared whenever they are present, however small the amount. Cooks on HomeChefs tick them on every dish.

2. What cooks must do

• List the main ingredients of every dish and tick every allergen it contains.
• Re-check the tick list whenever you change a recipe, a brand or a supplier. Stock cubes, sauces and bread change formulation often.
• Say in the description if you cannot rule out traces — for example "cooked in a kitchen that also handles nuts".
• Answer allergen questions in the order chat before cooking, and refuse the order if you cannot cook it safely. Refusing is always better than guessing.
• Never remove a visible allergen from a finished dish and call it free of it. Picking nuts out of a sauce does not make it nut free.
• Keep to the hygiene, registration and record-keeping rules that apply to home food businesses where you live, including registration with your local authority where that is required.
• Wash hands and surfaces, keep raw and cooked food apart, cook thoroughly, and do not cook for others while you or someone in your household has vomiting, diarrhoea or an infected wound.

3. What customers should do

• Read the ingredients and allergen tags on the dish page before ordering.
• If you have a serious allergy, message the cook first and say exactly what you must avoid. Their answer is in the chat and stays there.
• Treat "may contain traces" as a real risk, not a formality.
• Eat or refrigerate the food promptly, and reheat thoroughly if you keep it for later.

4. Home kitchens and cross-contamination

Home kitchens are shared spaces. The same board, pan, oven or oil may be used for many dishes on the same day, and pets may live in the household. A cook can tell you what they do to reduce risk, but nobody can promise a home kitchen is free of a given allergen. If your allergy is severe enough that traces matter, please take that into account before ordering.

5. Temperature, timing and transport

• Hot food should leave the kitchen hot and be eaten soon after handover; cold dishes should be kept chilled until handover.
• Cooks should use insulated bags or boxes for delivery and keep delivery times short enough to hold temperature.
• Collection and delivery slots exist so food is not left standing. If you will be late, message the cook.
• Food left at a doorstep is at the customer's risk once handover is confirmed; we recommend handing over in person.

6. Reporting illness or a safety concern

If food made you ill, or you believe a kitchen is unsafe, report the order or email support@home-chefs.app as soon as you can, and within 48 hours where possible. Tell us what you ate, when, and what happened. Keep any leftovers refrigerated — they can matter.

We look at safety reports first. We may pause a kitchen while we investigate, refund affected orders, and where the law requires it, inform the competent food safety authority. Seek medical advice for anything serious; contact emergency services for a severe allergic reaction.

7. What HomeChefs can and cannot guarantee

HomeChefs is a marketplace. We do not cook, inspect kitchens, taste dishes or verify allergen declarations ourselves. The cook is legally the food business responsible for what they sell. What we do is require honest declarations, hold payment until handover or a reviewed outcome, give you a direct line to the cook, and act on reports quickly.

The allergen ticks shown on a dish are the cook's own declaration, made from a checklist and shown on every dish page. A high rating, a leaderboard position, an achievement badge or a reward scheme says nothing about allergens or hygiene and never replaces reading the declaration or asking the cook.