I’m painfully aware that my own experience and needs very much informs the consumer issues I notice in the pub. Happily, people who read my writing are often generous in pointing out the areas I’ve missed. Recently, something pretty big has been brought to my attention that had utterly passed me by.

It’s allergen labelling. Not the most riveting subject, I grant you, but an important one. Now, I thought that the only information that is legally required on a pumpclip is the ABV. But I was wrong, if the beer contains allergens, they must be declared also. I am fortunate not to suffer from any allergies, so this wasn’t on my radar.

Since 2014, the declaration of the 14 major allergens in food and drink has been a legal requirement thanks to the Food Information Regulations. The ones we’re most likely to be dealing with in relation to beer are cereals containing gluten, nuts, peanuts and milk, possibly sulphur dioxide too.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) issued some very helpful guidance at the time, so pubs could make sure they were compliant. The BBPA highlights that alcoholic beverages dispensed from a bulk supply into a glass – like beer – are considered to be a “non pre-packed food” and so fall within the legislation.

This is where it gets a little murky. For packaged beer, I think we’re good. I’m not sure any brewer out there is producing bottles or cans without allergens highlighted on the ingredient list. But, there is no clear stance on how this information should be conveyed to customers at the bar. All we are told is that the information must be immediately available at the point of ordering.

Details could be written on the pumpclip or a beer list on the wall. It is allowable for staff to verbally relay the information to customers, but the BBPA does not recommend it since pubs can be busy, making it hard to relay complex information. Also, there may be a very large set of products making it difficult for staff to be accurate about remembering the precise detail.

To make life even harder for bar staff, where a non-pre-packed food item, like cask beer, is made with “cereals containing gluten” (which is probably all the ones that aren’t labelled as gluten free) the specific ingredient must also be identified; wheat, rye, barley, for example.

I hadn’t realised this, but some people are only allergic to specific glutens, so this information really does matter. Compounding the problem, even where a beer is legally gluten free (containing 20ppm or less of gluten), the charity Coeliac UK points out that if it was made from barley and then had the gluten removed the label should still legally state “contains barley”.

Of course, it could just be me who had this blindspot, but looking over it now, I don’t think I’m seeing a lot of compliance out there. I took a straw poll, by scrolling through the last 20 photos of pumpclips I’d taken on my phone. Two of them were highlighted as gluten free. The other 18 did not mention allergens at all.

Brewers are certainly putting ingredient lists on cask labels, so the information exists. Theoretically, a publican can nip down to the cellar and check that label whilst serving a customer.

“Virturally every pub we’ve been to is happy to do this,” my correspondent informed me. “But it’s an unnecessary inconvenience, not least at busy times.”

More to the point, such practices arguably don’t meet the legal requirements, as the information is not immediately to hand at the point of ordering. If informing a customer of allergens verbally, the staff must also have immediate access to written proof, if asked. They are unlikely to want to take the customer down to the cellar to check the labels on the cask for themselves during a busy service.

It does not feel like an insurmountable issue. Pub staff could write the allergens on the back of the pumpclip when the beer goes on, or add a note to their beer list if one is prominently displayed. But wouldn’t it just be easier if brewers start adding allergen information routinely to pumpclips?

There are some brewers which have already adopted this practice. I’ve spotted specific allergen labelling on North Riding, Rudgate and Cairngorm pumpclips, for example. They are definitely in the minority, though.

I can imagine that if you have an allergen to a specific type of gluten, having to ask about it constantly gets exhausting. To the point where you might just give up and pick something else to order instead. We’re all inclined to take the route of least resistance. Proper allergen labelling is a way of making beer more accessible, instantly.