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Food Act 1984, Section 4 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 16 November 2024. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.
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(1)The Ministers may, so far as appears to them to be necessary or expedient in the interests of the public health, or otherwise for the protection of the public, or to be called for by any [F3EU] obligation, make regulations for any of the following purposes—
(a)for requiring, prohibiting or regulating the addition of any specified substance or any substance of any specified class, to food intended for sale for human consumption or any class of such food, or the use of any such substance as an ingredient in the preparation of such food, and generally for regulating the composition of such food;
(b)for requiring, prohibiting or regulating the use of any process or treatment in the preparation of any food intended for sale for human consumption, or any class of such food;
(c)for prohibiting or regulating the sale, possession for sale, offer or exposure for sale, consignment, or delivery, of food which does not comply with any of the regulations, or in relation to which an offence against the regulations has been committed or would have been committed if any relevant act or omission had taken place in England and Wales, or in Northern Ireland, subject to subsection (5), or for prohibiting or regulating the importation of any such food as is mentioned above;
(d)for prohibiting or regulating the sale, possession for sale, or offer, exposure or advertisement for sale, of any specified substance, or of any substance of any specified class, with a view to its use in the preparation of food for human consumption, and the possession of any such substance for use in the preparation of food intended for sale for human consumption.
(2)In the exercise of their functions under this section the Ministers shall have regard to the desirability of restricting, so far as practicable, the use of substances of no nutritional value as foods or as ingredients of foods.
(3)Regulations made under this section may apply to cream, and to any food containing milk, but otherwise shall not apply to milk.
(4)Regulations so made may provide that, where any food is certified by a public analyst as being food to which the regulations apply so far as they are made under paragraph (c) of subsection (1), that food may be treated for the purposes of section 9, or in any corresponding Northern Ireland enactment, as being unfit for human consumption.
Those regulations may be—
(a)in relation to such cases as may be specified, and
(b)subject to such exceptions as may be allowed,
by or under the regulations, but nothing in any such regulations shall be taken as prejudicing the generality of the powers conferred by section 9, or in any corresponding Northern Ireland enactment.
F4(5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .]]
Textual Amendments
F1Pts. I, II (ss. 1–49) repealed (E.W.) (with savings for ss. 15 and 21) by Food Safety Act 1990 (c. 16, SIF 53:1, 2), ss. 54, 59, Sch. 4 paras. 7, 8, Sch. 5 (but (3.4.1992) as regards ss. 16–20; S.I. 1992/57, art. 2 and not coming into force as regards s.13 so far as it relates to the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations 1990 until either 1.4.1991 or 1.4.1992 as mentioned in S.I. 1990/2372)
F2S. 4: Pts. I, II (ss. 1-49) repealed (E.W.) (with savings for ss. 15 and 21) by Food Safety Act 1990 (c. 16, SIF 53:1, 2), ss. 54, 59, Sch. 4 paras. 7, 8, Sch. 5 but (prosp.) as regards ss. 16-20, and not coming into force as regards s. 13 so far as it relates to the Food Hygiene (Amendment) Regulations 1990 until either 1.4.1991 or 1.4.1992 as mentioned in S.I. 1990/2372).
F3Words in Act substituted (22.4.2011) by The Treaty of Lisbon (Changes in Terminology) Order 2011 (S.I. 2011/1043), arts. 3, 6 (with arts. 3(2)(3), 4(2), 6(4)(5))
F4S. 4(5) repealed (N.I.) ( 4.11.1991) by S.I. 1991/762, art. 51(4), Sch.4; S.R. 1991/175, art. 2(2).
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