UK food law requires restaurants to declare 14 allergens. The law is right to mandate them, but it was never meant to be the ceiling. It is the floor.
A system that only tracks the regulated 14 has nothing to tell the guest with an onion intolerance, a FODMAP sensitivity, or a histamine reaction. With a spreadsheet, adding a fifteenth allergen means deciding which one to track and then manually auditing every dish against it. It does not scale.
Because Ingredifind tracks at the ingredient level, the question changes entirely. We already know which dishes contain garlic, nightshades, or histamine-rich foods, because we know every ingredient in every dish. The allergens, whether the regulated 14 or the dozens beyond, are all derived from the same ingredient data.
A quarter of the UK population has dietary requirements beyond the regulated 14. In 2025, researchers proposed adding goat's and sheep's milk, buckwheat, peas and lentils, and pine nuts to the EU's regulated list. The 14 will not stay at 14 forever. Restaurants already tracking at the ingredient level will not need to scramble when the list changes.