The NVWA allergen inspection: what the inspector checks and what it costs

The NVWA inspector (the Dutch food authority) arrives unannounced, and allergens are a standard item on the list. The numbers show why: in 2022 the NVWA checked 12,934 businesses on allergen information, and in hospitality only 41% complied. The 2023 annual report was barely better: across more than 6,500 inspected businesses, first-inspection compliance was 44.4%, and hospitality had the most violations of any sector.

Below is what the law actually asks of you, what an inspector concretely checks, what a violation costs, and what changed in 2026. Everything comes with the law text or the official figure, because enough ghost stories circulate about these fines.

This article was written in August 2026 and describes the rules, amounts and figures as they stood at that time. Fine amounts and policy change; for the current state of play, always check the NVWA's allergen page and the sources at the bottom of this article.

What the law actually asks

The basis is the European Food Information Regulation (EU 1169/2011). Article 9 requires information about the 14 allergens in Annex II, and Article 44 extends that duty to non-prepacked food: everything you prepare and serve in your venue, including drinks you mix yourself.

How you provide that information is regulated nationally, in the Dutch allergen information regulation for non-prepacked food. It offers two routes:

1. Written or electronic. The information is available at the point of sale, freely accessible, understandable and clearly legible. And you display visibly where it can be found, at every point of sale in the building.
2. Verbal. Allowed, but only if you meet three conditions at the same time: (a) the owner or an employee can always give the information immediately and correctly before the purchase takes place, (b) the information is also available in written or electronic form for staff and for the NVWA, and (c) a clearly visible notice points guests to the staff.

The trap is condition (b). Many venues choose "we just tell people" and assume that settles it. But even on the verbal route, a current, checkable list has to exist. Verbal is an addition to the record, not a replacement for it.

What the inspector concretely checks

An inspection is usually unannounced and cooperation is legally required. Around allergens it comes down to three questions:

• Is the notice up? A visible sign saying where the information is, or asking guests to check with staff.
• Does the list exist, and can the inspector see it? In practice this is the biggest stumbling block. The NVWA wrote about it in 2021 in as many words: staff can often say which allergen is in a dish, but nothing is available in writing or electronically, so there is nothing to verify.
• Is the answer before ordering correct? The inspector tests whether a guest is informed immediately and correctly before they order.

The 2021 figures show where it goes wrong. Among venues informing verbally, the visible notice was missing at 1,057 of 1,333, and at 942 of 1,335 the information was not available in written or electronic form. The direct answer before purchase was actually the smallest problem, at 291 failures in 1,200 checks. In other words: it rarely fails on the chef's knowledge, and almost always on the record-keeping.

What a violation costs

The NVWA works with an escalation ladder. Violations of the allergen information rules for non-prepacked food are classed as "medium": the first finding brings an official warning, and a repeat violation within two years brings an administrative fine.

The amounts are fixed in the Dutch administrative fines decree: €525 for businesses with 50 or fewer employees, €1,050 above that, per violation. For repeat offenders the NVWA can raise the amount further (the law contains a power to increase, not a fixed doubling). A single inspection stacks at most five fineable violations. And for completeness: intent or recklessness with direct danger to health can move the case to criminal law instead of an administrative fine.

Two nuances keep this honest. First, the ladder for labels on prepacked products is stricter: a missing or non-emphasised allergen on a label is a class-B violation and draws a fine immediately, without a prior warning. Second, the fine is rarely the real damage. In 2021 the NVWA issued 3,399 written warnings and 591 fine reports; whoever gets a warning knows that re-inspections follow within two years and that the next finding does cost money.

Why this is more than paperwork

It is tempting to treat this as administration. The research numbers show why that is wrong.

About 1 in 50 adults in Europe has a food allergy confirmed by food challenge, according to a 2023 European meta-analysis, and far more people report one (up to 1 in 5). For your venue that means: you serve allergic guests every week, and you cannot tell by looking who is truly at risk.

Fatal reactions are, fortunately, very rare. But in the UK fatality register for food anaphylaxis (deaths from 1999-2006, dated but still the most complete register there is), food prepared by caterers and hospitality was the single largest category: 18 of 48 deaths, against 6 from home-prepared food. And the causes are human and measurable. In a 2016 American study across 278 restaurants, more than half of cooks and servers thought a guest with a food allergy can safely eat "a small amount" of the allergen. In a 2019 German study, a quarter of staff thought heating destroys allergens, and 35% that drinking water dilutes them. All three are wrong: according to the 2022 FAO/WHO threshold work, about 5% of people with a peanut allergy already react to 2 milligrams of peanut protein, on the order of one hundredth of a peanut, and that protein survives cooking. Even a shared fryer measurably carries allergen over into whatever goes in next.

Those are exactly the mistakes an inspector does not see, but a guest does. Having the list in order is the checkable part; instructing your team correctly is the part that protects guests.

New since 2026: "may contain" is now regulated

Since 1 January 2026 a new policy rule governs precautionary allergen labelling. A warning like "may contain" is only allowed on prepacked products on the basis of a risk assessment and above set reference values, and only in the wordings "May contain ..." or "Not suitable for ...". For artisanal products there is a relaxation: the warning is allowed as soon as cross-contact is possible in practice. The NVWA has been enforcing this since 1 January 2026, including whether you take measures to prevent cross-contact.

For hospitality this mostly means: read the labels of the products and semi-finished goods (your prep items) you buy, because your allergen information leans on what those say. Where allergens tend to hide is covered in our guide to allergens in hospitality.

How to come through the inspection well

1. Put the notice up, visibly, at every spot in the building where people order.
2. Keep one current list, on paper or digital, that an inspector can see on the spot. A fill-in starting point is in our allergen chart template, or make one right away with the free allergen chart maker.
3. Update the list at every change: a new dish, an adjusted recipe, a different supplier, the daily menu.
4. Instruct your team: no "a little bit won't hurt", no "heating fixes it", check first and answer second when in doubt.
5. Name cross-contact separately (the shared fryer, the cutting board), and only where you genuinely cannot rule the risk out.

The weak spot of every standalone list is point 3: it quietly goes stale. In moonies allergens follow automatically from your recipes and prep items, so when a recipe changes, the information changes with it, and you always have something current to show a guest and an inspector. The registrations around it, like temperatures and cleaning, live in the HACCP module.

Frequently asked questions

How high is the fine for missing allergen information? €525 for businesses with 50 or fewer employees, €1,050 above that, per violation. For a repeat within two years the NVWA can raise the amount.

Do I get fined at the first inspection? For information about non-prepacked dishes usually not: the first finding brings an official warning, a repeat violation within two years brings a fine. Note: for label errors on prepacked products there is no warning round, a fine follows immediately.

May I give allergen information verbally? Yes, under three simultaneous conditions: always inform immediately and correctly before the purchase, also keep the information available in written or electronic form for staff and the NVWA, and display a visible notice. Each of the three is separately fineable.

Does the duty also apply to drinks? Yes. The information duty covers all non-prepacked food you offer, including drinks you mix yourself.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, Articles 9, 21 and 44 and Annex II
• Dutch allergen information regulation for non-prepacked food
• Dutch administrative fines decree, annex section C-29
• NVWA general intervention policy 2024 and hospitality-specific intervention policy (IB03-SPEC 37)
• NVWA, allergen information inspection results 2021 and 2022, annual report 2023
• Policy rule on precautionary allergen labelling (from 1 January 2026) and the NVWA news release on its enforcement
• Spolidoro et al., frequency of food allergy in Europe, meta-analysis, Allergy 2023
• Pumphrey & Gowland, fatal allergic reactions to food in the UK 1999-2006, J Allergy Clin Immunol 2007
• Radke et al., food allergy knowledge of restaurant managers and staff, J Food Prot 2016; Loerbroks et al., same topic, Germany, PLOS ONE 2019
• FAO/WHO, risk assessment of food allergens (reference doses) and the VITAL 4.0 summary