The Food Labelling (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Citation and commencement N.I.

1.  These Regulations may be cited as The Food Labelling (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004, and shall come into operation on 25th November 2004.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 1 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

Amendment of the Food Labelling Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 N.I.

2.  The Food Labelling Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(1) shall be amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 15.

Commencement Information

I2 Reg. 2 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

3.  In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) –

(a) after the definition of “advertisement” there shall be inserted –

““allergenic ingredient” means an ingredient referred to in Schedule AA1;”;

(b) for the definition of “Directive 2000/13” there shall be substituted –

““Directive 2000/13” means Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(2) on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs, as amended by –

(a)

Commission Directive 2001/101/EC(3), which was itself amended by Commission Directive 2002/86/EC(4);

(b)

the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the treaties on which the European Union is founded(5); and

(c)

Directive 2003/89/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(6),

and as read with Commission Directive 99/10/EC(7) providing for derogations from the provisions of Article 7 of Directive 2000/13/EC and Commission Directive 2002/67/EC(8) on the labelling of foodstuffs containing quinine, and of foodstuffs containing caffeine;”.

Commencement Information

I3 Reg. 3 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

4.  In regulation 3(1A) (exemptions) after sub-paragraph (a) “or” shall be omitted and the following inserted –

(aA) regulation 44(a) in relation to a contravention of regulation 34B concerning any pre-packed food either contained in an indelibly marked glass bottle intended for re-use and having no label, ring or collar, or the largest surface of whose packaging has an area of less than ten square centimetres; or”

Commencement Information

I4 Reg. 4 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

5.  In regulation 13 (order of list of ingredients), for paragraph (5) there shall be substituted –

“(5) Where a food consists of, or contains, mixed fruit, vegetables or mushrooms which are used in proportions that are likely to vary and no particular fruit, vegetable or mushroom predominates significantly by weight, those ingredients may be grouped together in the list of ingredients under the designation “fruit”, “vegetables” or “mushrooms” followed by the phrase “in varying proportions”, followed by a list of the fruit, vegetables or mushrooms present; in such a case the total weight of the fruit, vegetables or mushrooms shall determine the order in which this entry appears in the list of ingredients.

(6) Where a food consists of, or contains, mixed spices or herbs and no particular spice or herb predominates significantly by weight, those ingredients may be listed otherwise than in descending order of weight if –

(a) in the case of a food which consists entirely of such a mixture, the heading of the list of ingredients includes or is accompanied by “in variable proportion” or other words indicating the nature of the order in which the ingredients are listed; and

(b) in the case of a food which contains such a mixture, that part of the list where the names of those ingredients appear is accompanied by “in variable proportion” or other words indicating the nature of the order in which those ingredients are listed.

(7) Ingredients constituting less than 2 per cent of the finished product may be listed in a different order after the other ingredients.

(8) In the case of ingredients which –

(a) are similar or mutually substitutable;

(b) are likely to be used in the preparation of a food without altering its nature or its perceived value;

(c) are not additives or allergenic ingredients or ingredients originating from an allergenic ingredient referred to in paragraphs 1 to 11 of Schedule AA1; and

(d) constitute less than 2 per cent of the finished product,

such ingredients may be referred to in the list of ingredients by means of the phrase “contains … and/or …”, where at least one of no more than two such ingredients is present in the finished product.”.

Commencement Information

I5 Reg. 5 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

6.  In regulation 14 (names of ingredients) –

(a) in paragraphs (4) and (9) there shall be inserted at the beginning “Subject to regulation 34B,”;

(b) in paragraph (5) after “Subject to paragraph (5A) of this regulation” there shall be inserted “and regulation 34B,”.

Commencement Information

I6 Reg. 6 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

7.  In regulation 15 (compound ingredients) –

(a) in paragraphs (3) and (4) there shall be inserted at the beginning “Subject to regulation 34B,”;

(b) in paragraph (4) after sub-paragraph (a) “or” shall be omitted and for sub-paragraph (b) there shall be substituted –

“(b) subject to paragraphs (5) and (6), the composition of the compound ingredient is defined in Community legislation and the compound ingredient constitutes less than 2 per cent of the finished product, or

(c) subject to paragraphs (5) and (6), the compound ingredient consists of a mixture of spices or herbs or both and constitutes less than 2 per cent of the finished product.;

(c) after paragraph (4) there shall be inserted –

“(5) Subject to regulation 17, any additive which is an ingredient of such a compound ingredient as is mentioned in paragraph (4)(b) or (c) shall be named in the list of ingredients in accordance with paragraph (2).

(6) Where an ingredient of such a compound ingredient as is mentioned in paragraph (4)(b) or (c) has been irradiated, the name of that ingredient and the words required by paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 shall be given, except in the case of food which is prepared for patients requiring sterile diets under medical supervision.”.

8.   In regulation 17 (ingredients which need not be named) –

(a) there shall be inserted at the beginning “Subject to regulation 34B,”;

(b) after paragraph (d) there shall be inserted –

(e) any substance which is not an additive but which is used in the same way and for the same purpose as a processing aid.”.

Commencement Information

I7 Reg. 7 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

9.  In regulation 18 (foods which need not bear a list of ingredients) –

(a) in paragraph (1) there shall be inserted at the beginning “Subject to regulation 34B”;

(b) in paragraph (3) for “regulations 12 to 17” there shall be substituted “regulations 12 to 17 and 34B”.

Commencement Information

I8 Reg. 9 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

10.  In regulation 23 (food which is not prepacked and similar food, and fancy confectionery products) after paragraph (2) there shall be inserted the following –

“(2A) Food falling within paragraph (1)(a) or (c) need not be marked or labelled with any of the particulars specified in regulation 34B.”.

Commencement Information

I9 Reg. 10 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

11.  In regulation 27(1) (certain food sold at catering establishments), for “regulations 32, 33 and 34” there shall be substituted “regulations 32, 33, 34 and 34B”.

Commencement Information

I10 Reg. 11 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

12.  After regulation 34A (drinks with high caffeine content), there shall be inserted –

“Foods containing allergenic ingredients or ingredients originating from allergenic ingredients

34B.— (1) Subject to paragraph (2), where any food containing any allergenic ingredient, or any ingredient originating from an allergenic ingredient referred to in paragraphs 1 to 11 of Schedule AA1, does not specify the allergenic ingredient in the name of the food, that food shall be marked or labelled with a clear reference to the name of the allergenic ingredient concerned.

(2) In the case of any drink which has an alcoholic strength by volume of more than 1.2 per cent –

(a) the presence of any allergenic ingredient shall be indicated by marking or labelling the drink with “contains” followed by the name of the allergenic ingredient; and

(b) the presence of any ingredient originating from an allergenic ingredient referred to in paragraphs 1 to 11 of Schedule AA1 shall be indicated by marking or labelling the drink with “contains” followed by the name of the ingredient including a reference to the allergenic ingredient from which it originates,

unless the name of the allergenic ingredient is specified in the name of the drink or in the list of ingredients, if any.”.

Commencement Information

I11 Reg. 12 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

13.  In regulation 50 (transitional provision), there shall be inserted at the end –

“(12) In any proceedings for an offence under regulation 44(a), it shall be a defence to prove that –

(a) the food concerned was marked or labelled before 25th November 2005; and

(b) the matters constituting the alleged offence would not have constituted an offence under these Regulations if the amendments made by the following provisions of The Food Labelling (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004, namely –

(i) regulation 3(b),

(ii) regulation 5 in so far as it substitutes a new regulation 13(5), and

(iii) regulations 6, 7(a), 8, 9, 12 and 15,

had not been in operation when the food was sold.”.

Commencement Information

I12 Reg. 13 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

14.  Immediately before Schedule A1, there shall be inserted as Schedule AA1 the contents of the Schedule.

Commencement Information

I13 Reg. 14 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

15.  In Schedule 3 (generic names in list of ingredients), in part I (general) the entries relating to “Crystallised fruit” and “Vegetables” shall be omitted.

Commencement Information

I14 Reg. 15 in operation at 25.11.2004, see reg. 1

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety on 10th November 2004.

L.S.

Jim F. Livingstone

A senior officer of the

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety