LiberEat, a dietary app aimed at helping allergy sufferers, vegans and vegetarians dine out with confidence has signed up 1,000 restaurants to its books.

It’s estimated that two million people are living with a diagnosed food allergy in the UK, and 600,000 – one in ten – with coeliac disease.

This figure does not include those with food intolerances, such as lactose intolerance. Therefore, the figure of those with a limited diet is likely to be much higher. There is no cure for food allergies or intolerances, which can make it significantly harder them dinning out.

Developed by an Aberdeen startup, the food allergy app is designed to filter food and menus by ingredients for people with specific dietary restrictions, thus easing the problem of eating in restaurants.

The app is compatible with both Android and Apple devices and already has 800 venues signed up, including Harvester and Miller & Carter eateries, and another 200 more restaurants in the pipeline.

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LiberEat is the brainchild of founder and MD, Barry Leaper, and co-founder Louise Cahill, a registered nurse, who also has complex allergies.

Cahill is working with the NHS to put the app and its technology to use within the healthcare system to help improve patient outcomes, in hospital and at home.

Leaper said: “From an early stage, many established restaurants understood the potential of LiberEat and wanted to be part of it. Our research shows that people with dietary requirement are a huge and underserved market.

“By making their menus more accessible through our app, restaurants attract not just people with allergies or vegans or vegetarians, but all the friends and family they bring with them.

“We’ve spoken to a huge range of families, people with Coeliac disease and individuals with allergies like nuts and milk – they all say they have their safe restaurants and don’t venture much further. This app lets them explore safely and brings new customers into restaurants.”

LiberEat receives support from the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s unlocking ambition programme, Business Gateways high growth pipeline, The Rowett Institute, Aberdeen University, and Robert Gordon University.