RL Solutions showcases allergen labelling at Restaurant &Takeaway Expo

At this year’s Restaurant and Takeaway Innovation Expo, long-time Toshiba partner, RL Solutions, will be demonstrating a ground-breaking food and allergen labelling solution that has been developed to help takeaway food outlets and restaurants comply with current and upcoming legislative requirements. This innovative solution can be seen on Stand F286 throughout the duration of the exhibition, which is being held at Excel London on 19^thand 20^thNovember 2019.

Early in 2019, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) called upon businesses large and small to work with it to meet the requirements of the new legislation which stipulates that, from October 2021, all pre-packed food must display full ingredient and allergen labelling. The legislation – which is often called Natasha’s Law, in reference to a young woman who died after eating a sandwich without clear allergen labelling – will apply to all food prepared and packed on the premises from which it is sold.

To help businesses respond effectively to this legislation, RL Solutions has developed a new labelling system which is specifically aimed at takeaway food outlets, and is the only system of its kind currently available. It comprises a Toshiba FV4T Desktop printer, a receipt printer, a tablet touch screen and RL Solution’s proprietary software “Safe Away”.

The system manages orders, and keeps digital copies of customer receipts that help to safeguard customers and the food outlet against accidental contact with allergens that are not clearly identified.

For use in this innovative food labelling system, RL Solutions has selected the robust and compact Toshiba FV4T desktop printer. This combines outstanding value for money with exceptional performance and boasts print speeds up to 6 inches per second. It handles even the most demanding printing applications with ease and is 13% faster for the first label print and 8% faster for batch printing compared with other ostensibly similar models. Crucially, the FV4T printer produces food grade, FDA-approved thermal transfer labels that do not melt, change colour, or lose their legibility – even when applied to hot food containers.

The new food labelling system from RL Solutions also incorporates a Windows-based tablet that can control up to three printers – a receipt printer on the front desk for creating the sales receipt, a printer for the kitchen order, and the printer for the labels that will be applied to the food packaging.

“Natasha’s law has completely changed the way the food industry looks at ingredient and allergen lists,” explains Lee Shroder, Managing Director at RL Solutions. “Any takeaway food that is made on the premises – whether those premises are a kebab shop, fish-and-chip shop, a local café, or even a burger van – must correctly display all ingredients and allergens on outer food packaging. Our Allergen Manager software, which is included with our Safe Away software package, scans the ingredients list for 64 known allergens and prints a label that can be appended to external packaging.

“There are 60,000 takeaway retailers in the UK, and many of them have not yet made preparations to satisfy the new legislation,” he continued. “We’re confident that our system will provide them with exactly the solution they need at a price that’s very affordable.”

On Tuesday 19^thNovember, Lee Shroder will be speaking at a panel seminar running alongside the Restaurant and Takeaway Innovation Expo. The seminar titled Simple Steps to Safeguarding Your Business will take place in Theatre 8 from 15:00 to 15:30 and will cover issues and challenges relating to the day-to-day running of takeaway food outlets and restaurants. The session will be particularly useful for visitors seeking guidance on safeguarding their business and the health of their customers by achieving compliance with food safety standards and legislation.More information about the seminar and details of how to obtain tickets can be accessed here: http://www.takeawayexpo.co.uk/theatres/panel-theatre-8/