SCHEDULES

Section 46.

SCHEDULE 4 Amendments of the Food and Drugs Act 1955

1 There shall be added at the end of section 13 (regulations as to food hygiene) the following subsection—

“(9) If a person convicted of an offence against any regulations made under this section with respect to slaughterhouses or knackers' yards is the holder of a licence under section 1 of the Slaughterhouses Act 1974 in respect of the premises where the offence was committed, the court may, in addition to any other punishment, cancel the licence.”

2 There shall be added at the end of section 80 (power to provide cold stores and refrigerators) the following subsection—

“(4) Subsections (1) to (5) of section 250 of the Local Government Act 1972 (which relate to local inquiries) shall apply for the purposes of this section as if any reference in those subsections to that Act included a reference to this section.”

3 There shall be added at the end of section 103 (powers of entry of Minister's officers) the following subsection—

“(3) For the purposes of any regulations made under section 13 of this Act, this section and subsections (1) and (3) of section 105 shall have effect as if the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as well as the local authority were empowered to enforce those regulations so far as they apply to slaughterhouses and knackers' yards.”

4 There shall be inserted in section 123 (regulations, orders, etc.) after subsection (4) the following subsection—

“(4A) Without prejudice to any other power with respect thereto, any regulations made with respect to slaughterhouses or knackers' yards under section 13 of this Act may include provision for the regulations to come into force on different days fixed by, or by an order to be made by statutory instrument under, those regulations in respect of different classes or descriptions of premises and different areas, and for different provisions to come into force on different days.”

5 There shall be inserted in section 126 (expenses) after subsection (1) the following subsection—

“(1A) The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food may by regulations approved by the Treasury provide for the making by him of contributions towards expenses incurred by a local authority in carrying out at slaughterhouses their functions with respect to the inspection of meat prepared for sale for human consumption in cases where the Minister is satisfied that, by reason of the extent to which the meat appears to him to exceed in quantity what it appears to him should be regarded as required for consumption in the authority's district, those expenses impose an unduly heavy burden on the ratepayers of that district.”