The Food (Northern Ireland) Order 1989

Offences as to preparation and sale of injurious foods

3.—(1) A person who—

(a) adds any substance to food,

(b) uses any substance as an ingredient in the preparation of food,

(c) abstracts any constituent from food, or

(d) subjects food to any other process or treatment,

so as (in any such case) to render the food injurious to health, with intent that the food shall be sold for human consumption in that state, shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person who—

(a) sells for human consumption, or

(b) offers, exposes or advertises for sale for human consumption or has in his possession for the purpose of sale for human consumption,

any food rendered injurious to health by means of any operation described in paragraph (1) shall, subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), be guilty of an offence.

(3) In any prosecution under this Article for an offence consisting of the advertisement for sale of any food, it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that, being a person whose business it is to publish, or arrange for the publication of, advertisements, he received the advertisement for publication in the ordinary course of business, and did not himself make, or cause to be made, any material alteration in the substance of that advertisement.

(4) In determining for the purposes of this Order whether an article of food is injurious to health, regard shall be had not only to the probable effect of that article on the health of a person consuming it, but also to the probable cumulative effect of articles of substantially the same composition on the health of a person consuming such articles in ordinary quantities.