Standards, staff & systems
More than ever - and the purple allergen board is exactly why. Here is the full scheme, what the law actually requires, and where a colour stops being a safeguard.
The short answer
Yes - and arguably more than ever. Colour-coding is not a legal requirement, but it is the way UK kitchens demonstrate they separate raw from ready-to-eat and control allergens, and Environmental Health Officers recognise it on sight. The modern addition of a purple allergen-free board is exactly why it still earns its place. But colour organises cleaning; it does not replace it.
The system
UK food law does not mandate colours. What it requires, under Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and the Food Safety Act 1990, is that you prevent cross-contamination, keep equipment cleanable and separate raw and ready-to-eat foods. Colour-coding is simply the clearest, most recognised way to prove you are doing that - which is why it is taught on Level 2 courses and referenced in Safer Food, Better Business. The widely used scheme is:
The same thinking extends to cleaning equipment: colour-coded cloths and mops keep the tools for raw-prep areas separate from ready-to-eat areas, so the cleaning itself does not become a route of cross-contamination.
Where colour stops
Here is the catch that catches out kitchens which think they are compliant. Colour-coding controls what a board or cloth is used for - it does nothing about the state that board is in. A red board scored with knife cuts harbours bacteria deep in the grooves where washing and sanitising cannot reach, and once it can no longer be cleaned to a food-safe standard it is unfit for use regardless of its colour. The same is true of a cloth that is never properly laundered: right colour, wrong hygiene.
Colour-coding only counts as a control when it is documented in your food-safety system, applied consistently, backed by staff training, and paired with equipment that is genuinely clean and in good repair. On its own it is a wall chart, not a safeguard.
The limit
Colour-coding is necessary but it is not sufficient. It organises daily preparation and cuts cross-contact between food types - a genuinely valuable control that still matters in 2026 - but it does nothing about ingrained soil, biofilm, grease build-up or equipment that has passed the point of being cleanable. Those need proper cleaning and, for the accumulated and hidden load, a periodic deep clean. The colours keep the right things apart; they cannot make a dirty kitchen clean.
Questions
No. UK food law requires you to prevent cross-contamination, keep equipment cleanable and separate raw from ready-to-eat foods, but it does not specify colours. Colour-coding is the accepted, EHO-recognised way to demonstrate that separation, which is why it is taught on Level 2 courses and referenced in Safer Food, Better Business. The legal duty is about results; colour-coding is a practical way to achieve and evidence them.
The widely used UK scheme is red for raw meat, blue for raw fish, yellow for cooked meat, green for salad and fruit, brown for vegetables, and white for bakery and dairy. Purple is the more recent addition for allergen-free preparation. The same colour logic applies to cleaning cloths and mops, keeping raw-prep and ready-to-eat cleaning tools separate so the cleaning itself does not spread contamination.
Purple designates allergen-free preparation, and it has been added because allergen control has become far more prominent - particularly since Natasha's Law raised the stakes around cross-contact. A dedicated purple board and utensils for allergen-free dishes give a clear, visible way to keep them apart from everything else. It is the main reason the colour system is more relevant in 2026, not less.
No - and this is where kitchens get caught out. Colour-coding controls what a board or cloth is used for, but it does nothing about the state it is in. A board scored with knife cuts harbours bacteria in grooves that washing cannot reach, and is unfit for use whatever its colour. Colour-coding only works as a control when it is documented, applied consistently, backed by training, and paired with equipment that is genuinely clean and in good repair.
When it can no longer be cleaned to a food-safe standard - typically once it is deeply scored, cracked or stained enough that bacteria can lodge in the grooves. At that point washing and sanitising cannot reach the contamination, so the board is unfit regardless of colour. Checking boards for scoring and replacing worn ones is part of keeping the colour system meaningful rather than cosmetic.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
A professional deep clean addresses the ingrained soil, grease and biofilm colour-coding cannot touch - resetting equipment and surfaces to a genuinely clean baseline your daily system can hold.