Written by: Emily Catterson

Posted on: 26/05/23

British Sandwich Week 2023

The nation’s favourite sandwiches range from a chip butty to a cucumber sarnie, but are you aware of the allergens in them all?

The origin of the traditional lunchtime staple is contested, with many commonly ascribing the sandwich’s invention to John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. It was reported that he needed a way to continue gambling while eating, and the bread encasing the meat ensured his cards did not get greasy during play.

The present-day sandwich has evolved within the food industry to encompass every possible food group; there are breakfast sandwiches, cold sandwiches, hot sandwiches – even ice cream sandwiches! But with every possible flavour comes increased risks of contact with one of the 14 major allergens as listed by AllergyUK. Natasha’s Law was enacted in direct response to a tragic lack of ingredient visibility in sandwich packaging, and as such places even tighter restrictions upon vendors to ensure that the correct information is freely available to customers.

Not only for the sake of customers’ health, but also for the reputation of food service and hospitality companies who regularly deal with possible allergens. The consequences risked by failing to display allergen information clearly where required by law are far-reaching.

With modern conglomerate food producers dealing with potentially thousands of suppliers -and supply chains growing exponentially longer and originating in regions wherein allergen regulation is less strict than the UK’s – it is more of a challenge than ever to ensure that potentially hazardous foods are tracked and managed.

This is where manual processes and data siloes become a thing of the past. Liable to human error and inefficiency, there is no place for these outdated methods of supplier management in the modern, forward-thinking industry. For those companies looking to get ahead of the curve, and so secure their processes against risks, digitisation is the safest and most effective solution.

ARCUS® Supplier Management Software’s offering is that of fully integrated, cloud-based software covering every stage of the supplier management process from running tenders, supplier on-boarding, and through to contract management. Allergen and ingredient data can be collected directly from the supplier, as well as through integrations such as Erudus, and consolidated in a seamless solution. This information then can be pushed into downstream systems such as Fourth and Hamilton Grant to ensure a single source of information is used throughout the process.

Simplify, streamline, and modernise your business with ARCUS®.