Google adds gluten-free and halal badges to menus: tick with care
For cafés, restaurants, takeaways and bakeries with a menu on Google: what Google added in October, the legal line behind "gluten-free", and what to check before you tick a box.
What did Google add to restaurant menus?
Two new badges, according to Google's own changelog. Google's Business Profile API update of 9 October 2026 says: "The DietaryRestriction enum now supports GLUTENFREE and DAIRYFREE attributes for food menu items." Google's API reference now lists seven labels for a dish: dairy-free, gluten-free, halal, kosher, organic, vegan and vegetarian. Halal and kosher come from Google's announcement. Search Engine Roundtable reports that Google's Lisa Landsman announced gluten-free, dairy-free, halal and kosher badges on LinkedIn, on top of vegetarian and vegan. Her pitch, as quoted there: "When guests search on Google Maps or Search for specific diets (like "gluten-free dinner near me"), tagged dishes help your items stand out right on your profile, answering their biggest question before they even ask." Where to find it. Per the same report: "go to your Google Business Profile, select 'Edit menu', choose an item, and check the applicable dietary badges." What isn't confirmed: Google names no countries. The changelog is a note for API partners. Whether the badges already show in your editor in the UK or Germany, you'll only know by looking.
Who this applies to (and who it doesn't)
Anyone with a menu on their Google profile. The café with a lunch board, the takeaway, the bakery, the deli, in the UK and in Germany. No menu on your profile, nothing to tag. Here's the catch. "Gluten-free" is not just a badge, it's a legal claim. The rule kept in UK law says: "The statement 'gluten-free' may only be made where the food as sold to the final consumer contains no more than 20 mg/kg of gluten." The same EU rule applies in Germany. It covers the words on your menu, on Google or anywhere else. Kitchens that also use flour have a harder time. Food Standards Scotland's allergen training says: "Manufacturers and caterers can only use the phrase 'gluten-free' if they can demonstrate that, when tested, their product is 20 parts or less of gluten per million." Where the risk of cross-contamination is high, you can't use the label at all. Halal and kosher: Google doesn't verify these badges, Search Engine Roundtable points out. Whether a dish deserves one is down to you.
What should you do this week?
Open your menu on Google and tick only what you can stand behind. A badge takes one click. The claim behind it is yours.
- ✓Check whether the badges are there. In your Google Business Profile, go to Edit menu and pick a dish. If gluten-free or halal isn't offered yet, it hasn't reached your profile.
- ✓Gluten-free only with proof. Tag a dish only if it has no more than 20 mg/kg of gluten as served, and you can show it.
- ✓Shared kitchen? If you can't control cross-contamination, leave the gluten-free badge off. If you have taken steps to control it, Food Standards Scotland says you may indicate which foods have no gluten-containing ingredients. Put that in the dish description, not in the badge.
- ✓Dairy-free, halal, kosher, vegan: tick them only for dishes where you know every ingredient and where it comes from.
Most gluten a food may contain to be called "gluten-free" (UK and EU)
Source: Regulation (EU) No 828/2014 as retained in UK law, Annex
Common questions
How do I add dietary tags to my menu on Google?
In your Google Business Profile, select "Edit menu", choose a dish and tick the dietary badges that apply. That is how Search Engine Roundtable describes it, based on Google's announcement. Google has not said which countries have the new badges yet. If you don't see gluten-free or halal, check again later.
Can a kitchen that also uses flour call a dish gluten-free?
Only if it can show, by testing, that the dish has 20 parts per million of gluten or less. Food Standards Scotland says caterers with a high risk of cross-contamination can't use "gluten-free" at all. If you have taken steps to control that risk, you may say which foods have no gluten-containing ingredients instead.
Yusuf helps run and scale a 55-store international food franchise - and has been the owner himself, with two of his own locations. He writes for the Digest on food, hospitality, and what it really takes to run a place.
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