Selling bakes on Facebook or Instagram? Here's what the law says
Selling through a social media page feels informal, but in the eyes of the law it's a food business like any other. Here's what actually applies — and what councils are watching for.
Yes, the law applies — fully
Taking cake orders through a Facebook page, an Instagram account, or a local selling group is running a food business. The platform doesn't change anything: the same rules apply as if you had a shop. And councils actively look for unregistered sellers on Facebook Marketplace, community groups and Instagram, so "it's just a little side thing on socials" isn't the cover people assume.
What you need to have in place
1. Register as a food business
Free, done online, and required at least 28 days before you start trading. It can't be refused. Full detail in our guide to registering to sell cakes from home.
2. Sort your allergen information
How this works depends on how you deliver:
- If you pre-package bakes before the customer collects (boxed, ready to hand over), that's likely PPDS — full ingredients list with allergens emphasised on the label.
- If you make each order bespoke to order, you may not need a full PPDS label, but you must still give accurate allergen information clearly before they buy.
Either way, you can't just rely on a customer to ask. Allergen information has to be available and accurate.
3. Good food hygiene (and ideally a rating)
Once registered, your council can inspect and give you a food hygiene rating — which, for a social-media business built on trust, is something you'll actually want to show off on your page.
A note on distance selling
When you sell online, allergen information has to be provided twice: at the point the customer orders (on your page or in your listing), and again when the food is delivered (with the food itself). Building your ingredient/allergen info once — for example as a saved label per product — makes this much less painful.
Make it easy on yourself
The labelling is the fiddly bit, and it's exactly what BakeLabels is for. Photograph the ingredients on the packets you bake with, and it builds a print-ready allergen label you can attach to boxes or reference in your listings.
Selling online? Get your labels sorted.
Free tool — photograph your ingredients, print a compliant label.
Open the label builder →This article is general information, not legal advice, and food law can change. For current official guidance see the Food Standards Agency (food.gov.uk), including its PPDS allergen labelling guidance, or contact your local council's environmental health team.