The Preservatives in Food Regulations 1989

Regulation 4(4) and 6(2)

SCHEDULE 3 LABELLING OF PERMITTED PRESERVATIVES

1.—(1) Each container to which regulation 6(2) applies shall bear a label on which is printed a true statement,–

(a) in respect of each permitted preservative present, of the serial number, if any, as specified in relation thereto in column 2 or 4 of Part I of Schedule 1, and of the common or usual name or an appropriate designation of that permitted preservative;

(b) where any other substance or substances is or are present, of the common or usual name or an appropriate designation of each such substance; and

(c) where two or more of the substances referred to in paragraphs 1(1)(a) and (b) of this Schedule are present, of the proportion of each such substance present, save that the label shall only have printed on it a statement of the proportion of any substance present, other than a permitted preservative, if any regulations, other than these Regulations or any amendment to these Regulations, made under the Act contain a requirement to that effect.

(2) The said statement shall be headed or preceded by the words “for foodstuffs (restricted use)”.

2.  Any statement required by the preceding paragraph–

(a) shall be clear and legible;

(b) shall be in a conspicuous position on the label which shall be marked on, or securely attached to, the container in such a manner that it will be readily discernible and easily read by an intending purchaser under normal conditions of purchase;

(c) shall not be in any way hidden or obscured or reduced in conspicuousness by any other matter, whether pictorial or not, appearing on the label.

3.  The figures and the letters in any statement to which the preceding paragraph applies–

(a) shall be in characters of uniform colour and size (being not less than 1.5 millimetres in height for a label on a container of which the greatest dimension does not exceed 12 centimetres, and not less than 3 millimetres in height for a label on a container of which the greatest dimension exceeds 12 centimetres), but so that the initial letter of any word may be taller than any other letter in the word;

(b) shall appear on a contrasting ground, so however that where there is no ground other than such as is provided by a transparent container and the contents of that container are visible behind the letters, those contents shall be taken to be the ground for the purposes of this paragraph;

(c) shall be within a surrounding line and no other written or pictorial matter shall appear within that line.

4.—(1) There shall be printed on each document to which regulation 4(4) refers a true statement–

(a) of the common or usual name or an appropriate designation of the food to which the document relates;

(b) in respect of each permitted preservative present in the food to which the document relates, of the serial number, if any, as specified in relation thereto in column 2 or 4 of Part I of Schedule 1, and of the common or usual name or an appropriate designation of that permitted preservative; and

(c) of the proportion of each permitted preservative present in the food to which the document relates.

(2) The said statement shall include the words “Not for retail sale”.

5.  Any statement required by the preceding paragraph shall be clear and legible and the figures and the letters in any such statement–

(a) shall be in characters of uniform colour and size and not less than 3 millimetres in height, but so that the initial letter of any word may be taller than any other letter in the word;

(b) shall appear on a contrasting ground;

(c) shall be within a surrounding line and no other written or pictorial matter shall appear within that line.

6.  For the purpose of this Schedule–

(a) the height of any lower case letter shall be taken to be the x-height thereof, disregarding any ascender or descender thereof;

(b) any requirement that figures or letters shall be of uniform height, colour or size, shall be construed as being subject to the saving that any inconsiderable variation in height, colour or size, as the case may be, may be disregarded.