Early this year, a young mother with a severe peanut allergy ordered a seemingly innocuous snack from TikTok Shop. Excited by a viral video showcasing “gourmet popcorn mix,” she clicked “buy” without hesitation. Within minutes of her first handful, she went into anaphylactic shock and was rushed to hospital. Tests later revealed the popcorn had been prepared in the same facility as peanut‐based candies—information buried in fine print on a seller’s own website but entirely absent from the TikTok listing. She survived, but the ordeal underscores a growing public health concern: food items sold through TikTok Shop routinely fail to list allergens and ingredients, potentially putting vulnerable consumers in grave danger.
Over the past twelve months, TikTok has evolved from a video‐sharing platform into a major e‐commerce destination. In-app “Shop” features now allow creators and small businesses to market directly to millions of followers, offering everything from T-shirts to beauty kits. Food products—snacks, baked goods, and novelty treats—have proven particularly popular. But the swift growth of this marketplace has outpaced essential consumer‐safety measures. A recent investigation by consumer advocates, confirmed by independent spot checks, found hundreds of TikTok Shop listings for perishable and non‐perishable foods that either omit allergen declarations entirely or bury them under vague terms such as “spices” or “may contain nuts.” In some cases, popular sellers have simply typed “not applicable” in the allergen field. These gaps violate basic food‐labelling rules that have applied to UK businesses for years, including Natasha’s Law, which mandates full ingredient and allergen disclosures on pre‐packed foods.
When approached about specific listings, TikTok representatives removed the offending ads and affirmed its commitment to user safety. “TikTok Shop is committed to providing a safe and trustworthy shopping experience,” a spokesperson said. Yet, as of early June, dozens of active listings remained online, still lacking required ingredient or allergen details. Across the UK and beyond, allergy charities, consumer‐rights groups, and even some regulators warn that unless platforms like TikTok impose rigorous checks, growing numbers of food allergy sufferers risk life‐threatening reactions.
The Rise of TikTok Shop and the Allergen Gap
Started in late 2022, TikTok Shop initially enabled creators in Southeast Asia to sell merchandise directly via short videos. By mid‐2023, the feature launched in Europe, including the UK, and by early 2024 it had become a de-facto marketplace for small entrepreneurs and hobbyists. Sellers can upload product listings alongside livestream demonstrations, letting viewers purchase with a few taps. Through spring 2025, TikTok Shop expanded to allow businesses in North America and many parts of Europe direct access to roughly 150 million active users in the UK alone.
Food products quickly took off. Viral “mukbang” snack tastings, quirky flavoured candies, and DIY baking kits flooded feeds. For allergy sufferers—estimated at over two million people in the UK with medically diagnosed food allergies—the appeal of homemade or niche snacks has been a double‐edged sword. On one hand, TikTok Shop offers greater visibility to small producers of gluten-free or dairy-free treats. On the other, it has become a channel for unvetted sellers to reach mass audiences without the controls that bricks-and-mortar retailers and established e-commerce platforms impose.
Under UK law, any business selling pre-packed food for direct sale must comply with Natasha’s Law, which requires that every single item bears a label listing all ingredients in descending weight order, with the 14 “major allergens” clearly highlighted (such as peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, cereals containing gluten, soy, fish, etc.). For “distance selling”—that is, online or telephone sales—sellers must also provide allergen information at two separate points in the purchasing process: in the online product description and later on the physical packaging. These requirements have been in force since late 2021, and similar rules apply in the EU.
Yet TikTok Shop imposes no mandatory field for allergens. Sellers can choose whether to mention ingredients at all. Even those who do list them might rely on generic terms—“spice blend,” “flour base,” or “chocolate”—that mask the presence of major allergens like milk or wheat. For allergy sufferers, encountering “flour” without clarification could mean ingesting wheat flour (an allergen) when they rely on gluten-free alternatives. Meanwhile, “spice blend” could conceal mustard or sesame seeds, both officially recognized allergens.
Shock Findings and Real-World Consequences
In March 2025, the watchdog group FoodSafe UK partnered with several allergy charities to perform spot checks on 250 TikTok Shop listings for foods marketed in the UK. They discovered that:
42% of listings failed to mention any allergens, despite containing dairy, nuts, or gluten.
36% provided imprecise descriptions (e.g., “contains spices”) that made it impossible to determine specific allergens.
12% carried contradictory information: their TikTok description omitted allergens entirely, while their own websites (linked in bios) offered more detail.
10% listed incorrect allergen information, such as marking peanut-free when peanut oil was clearly an ingredient.
In one case, a company launched a “Squid Game Candy Kit” capitalizing on the popular Netflix series. The TikTok ad boasted candy rings and gummy frogs but stated “allergens: not applicable.” When pressed, the seller admitted the kit contained milk, wheat, and artificial colourings—but only listed that on its standalone website. Similarly, a “DIY Nashville Hot Chicken Burger Kit” claimed to be simply “breaded mix”—leaving buyers unaware that the spice blend used included dairy (a major allergen) and wheat. Scores of buyers later reported allergic reactions, ranging from hives and breathing difficulties to full anaphylaxis requiring hospital treatment.
For those living with severe allergies, each meal can be a hazard. Anaphylaxis UK, one of Britain’s leading charities supporting people with severe allergies, has received dozens of calls in the last three months from individuals who unknowingly ordered TikTok Shop snacks and suffered reactions. Many describe frantic emergency 999 calls and anxiety over whether retailers or platforms will provide refunds. “If the ingredient and allergen information isn't there, don't buy it. You're putting your life in grave danger,” says Simon Williams, CEO of Anaphylaxis UK.
Parents of allergic children are especially worried. Social media mom Kate Lancaster chronicles her two children’s milk allergies on TikTok as “The Dairy Free Mum,” sharing tips for safe eating. She recently reevaluated every item on her “For You” page after discovering a popular cookie seller listing “flour” without specifying it was wheat. “An app that thrives on food trends should ensure sellers meet basic labelling standards,” she says. “Allowing sellers to dodge these rules is frightening. One mistake could cost a life.”
Natasha’s Law and the Regulatory Landscape
In July 2021, the UK introduced “Natasha’s Law” following the tragic death of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating a baguette at a London airport café. The amendment to existing food safety regulations requires that any food “pre-packed for direct sale” (PPDS) carries a label listing all ingredients, with allergens emphasized in bold or a contrasting colour. Furthermore, online sellers must supply this information “in a readily accessible and comprehensible form” before the sale is completed.
Natasha’s Law filled a pivotal gap for foods made on the premises—like bakery slices sold from a counter—but also reinforced the rule that distance sellers (online or phone) must disclose allergens in both the product page and on-item packaging. Under Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidance, failure to comply can lead to enforcement action by local authorities, including fines or even closure of premises. Yet TikTok Shop’s unique model—merging social media, livestreaming, and third-party sellers—has created a gray area. While individual sellers are legally bound to meet PPDS criteria, TikTok itself has no statutory obligation to police listings beyond providing a marketplace. That responsibility falls to local trading standards officers, who lack the bandwidth to monitor thousands of daily uploads on social platforms.
Food businesses must also register with their local authority before selling. In theory, any UK-based TikTok seller trading edible products must be registered and subject to routine inspections. But identifying that a seller behind a TikTok Shop profile is actually operating from a registered commercial kitchen requires digging through bio details, website links, and occasional “about us” pages. Many small entrepreneurs treat TikTok Shop as a side hustle, operating from home kitchens or unregistered premises. In those cases, they may not realize—or choose to ignore—that they need to adhere to commercial food safety and labelling laws. Even registered businesses sometimes push the limits by listing “see website for details” on packaging but offering no details on TikTok itself.
In response to mounting concerns, the FSA has issued a statement reminding sellers and platforms of their obligations. “Wherever people buy their food, it needs to be safe and what it says it is,” said Dr. James Cooper, deputy director of food policy. “Food businesses in the UK must be registered with their local authority and follow food law. All food businesses have a legal responsibility to sell safe food and provide allergen information.” But enforcement is challenging. Local authorities have limited resources, and the scale of social-media commerce can overwhelm manual inspections. Without automated systems to flag potentially non-compliant listings, unsafe products can remain live for weeks or months.
Industry and Public Response
Charities and Consumer Groups
In addition to Anaphylaxis UK, the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation—formed by Natasha Ednan-Laperouse’s parents—has called for TikTok to adopt more rigorous seller vetting. Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, Natasha’s mother, argues that “TikTok is responsible for ensuring that all their UK food sellers meet legislative requirements. Any that don’t should be immediately removed and investigated.” Her organization has begun crowdsourcing reports of suspect listings, encouraging allergy sufferers to screenshot and submit questionable ads.
Consumer magazine Which? also highlighted the issue in its May 2025 report on online food safety. It found that 4 out of 10 of the sampled TikTok Shop food listings did not disclose any allergy information. Which? is lobbying for a standardized labelling template that all social shops must adopt—mirroring the “nutritional grid” required on Amazon and other large e-commerce sites. Without such a template, Which? warns, social platforms risk becoming havens for non-compliant sellers.
TikTok’s Limited Response
TikTok Shop has removed dozens of offending listings when specifically flagged by the BBC or charities. A spokesperson says: “We have policies and processes in place with our sellers to ensure the safety of food and beverages sold on our platform, and we will remove products that breach these policies.” Yet, when surveyed in late May 2025, TikTok Shop’s database still revealed hundreds of food and beverage listings lacking full ingredient or allergen details. Without an automated auditing tool, TikTok’s reliance on user reports and manual review means infractions can persist.
Critics point out that major e-commerce platforms—Amazon, eBay, Etsy—maintain stringent listing guidelines including mandatory fields for ingredients and allergens. Those platforms automatically block submissions lacking required data, flag questionable listings for human review, and penalize repeat offenders by suspending or banning seller accounts. TikTok Shop, in contrast, treats the platform more as a neutral conduit. Sellers can upload videos, attach product cards, and link to independent checkout pages without in-platform checking of food labels.
TikTok has indicated that more extensive vetting is on its roadmap. A spokesperson confirmed plans to develop “enhanced verification tools” and “standardized templates” to capture critical food safety information. But with only a few months until the next legislative review of Natasha’s Law, charities and consumer groups argue that progress is too slow. “Every day without these guardrails is another day people risk severe allergic reaction,” says Mr. Williams of Anaphylaxis UK.
Sellers: Errant Entrepreneurs or Innocent Omissions?
Not all food sellers on TikTok are willfully ignoring the law. Many are small entrepreneurs who learned to sell on social platforms because they lack resources to build independent websites. They often rely on their personal followings and trust that their fans will know what they’re getting. A baker in Manchester who sells bespoke brownies admitted she simply didn’t realize listing “nuts” or “dairy” separately counted as an allergen declaration. “I wrote ‘contains chocolate, sugar, flour’ thinking people would know the rest. I never imagined someone could be allergic to wheat she couldn’t see,” she said. After being contacted by investigators, she updated her listings. But not everyone takes that initiative; some continue to operate under the radar.
Larger sellers—those generating hundreds of orders per week—face a different calculus. They may fear that disclosing allergens will reduce impulse purchases. Marketing strategies on TikTok often emphasize catchy visuals over detailed text, so obscuring certain ingredients can increase “shareability.” A spokesperson for a prominent candy retailer in London admitted in an off-the-record conversation: “We know we should list all allergens, but TikTok Shop’s format doesn’t easily allow for long text. We worry customers will scroll past if they see dense labels.” Such attitudes reflect a broader tension between social-media marketing, which thrives on brevity and viral appeal, and the painstaking transparency required for food safety.
Global Comparisons and Emerging Solutions
The UK is not alone. Across Europe and North America, regulators scramble to catch up with social-commerce trends. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires allergen labelling but lacks direct jurisdiction over social platforms. Instead, it relies on existing e-retailers to comply. Yet platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest have similarly lax requirements for food listings. In Australia, authorities recently fined multiple TikTok sellers for selling “unregistered” food online; however, local regulators admit that policing thousands of listings is nearly impossible without platform cooperation.
Some countries have begun exploring automated scanning of product images and descriptions to flag potential allergen infractions. In Canada, a pilot program uses optical character recognition (OCR) to detect images of ingredient lists in photos. When a potential allergen—like “milk” or “soy”—is spotted without proper highlighting, the listing is temporarily disabled pending manual review. Early results suggest this reduces non-compliant food ads by 60%. European Union regulators are in discussions to propose similar tools, potentially requiring TikTok Shop and others to implement machine-learning filters by late 2026.
Industry stakeholders also point to “trusted seller” programs. Under such a scheme, TikTok Shop would require new food vendors to submit registration numbers from their local authority, upload proof of kitchen inspections, and provide sample labels that meet UK standards. In exchange, approved sellers earn a “Verified Food Safety” badge displayed prominently on their listings. While this would create hurdles for small hobbyists, it could reassure allergy sufferers that they can purchase from TikTok with confidence.
The Path Forward: Balancing Innovation and Safety
TikTok has transformed online shopping, giving small businesses unprecedented reach. But that rapid innovation has come at a cost: consumer protections have lagged behind. As of June 2025, the platform still allows sellers to omit vital ingredient and allergen information, effectively shifting the burden of due diligence onto individual buyers—many of whom may not realize how partial or misleading the information is.
For people with food allergies, every meal carries risk. When that meal is ordered impulsively through a livestream link, the stakes rise exponentially. While TikTok Shop has removed dozens of offending listings, its reactive approach—fixing problems only once they are flagged—cannot keep pace with the sheer volume of new postings. Instead, industry experts, allergy charities, and regulators agree, the platform must adopt a proactive model: mandatory allergen fields, automated compliance checks, and “trusted seller” verification. Only then can the enthusiasm for viral food trends coexist safely alongside those for whom a single misplaced ingredient can prove fatal.
In the meantime, allergy sufferers are urged to heed warnings from Anaphylaxis UK and the Food Standards Agency: if ingredient or allergen details are missing or ambiguous, do not purchase. Treat every incomplete listing as potentially life‐threatening. Beyond individual caution, collective pressure on TikTok will be essential. As food commerce proliferates across social media, it falls to platforms to ensure that the excitement of discovery doesn’t give way to tragedy. Otherwise, more unaware buyers—like the mother hospitalized with peanut‐tainted popcorn—will share a cautionary tale too late to save themselves.