The Food (Northern Ireland) Order 1989

Regulations as to composition of food, etc.

6.—(1) Subject to paragraph (4), the Department may, so far as it appears to the Department 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 Community 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 under the regulations has been committed or would have been committed if any relevant act or omission had taken place in Northern Ireland;

(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 the functions conferred by this Article the Department 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 Article may apply to cream and separated milk, and to any food containing milk, but otherwise shall not apply to milk.

(4) Regulations under this Article which apply to cream or ice-cream shall be made by the Department with the concurrence of the Department of Agriculture.

(5) Regulations made under this Article 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 (1)(c), that food may be treated for the purposes of Article 11 as being unfit for human consumption.

(6) Nothing in any regulations made under this Article shall be taken as prejudicing the generality of the powers conferred by Article 11.