Consumer Law ModuleCST 107 Food Safety (PDF)

CONSUMER LAW MODULECST 107 FOOD SAFETY (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER, 1991 WEEK 8 DR SINÉAD FUREY LEARNING OBJECTIVE Understand and discuss the main food safety and consumer protection afforded by the Food Safety (NI) Order, 1991. RECAP OF WEEK 7 What are the information requirement...

CONSUMER LAW MODULECST 107 FOOD SAFETY (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER, 1991 WEEK 8 DR SINÉAD FUREY LEARNING OBJECTIVE Understand and discuss the main food safety and consumer protection afforded by the Food Safety (NI) Order, 1991. RECAP OF WEEK 7 What are the information requirements to which the consumer is entitled before buying a product at a distance? What may happen if this information is not provided? How long is the consumers’ cooling-off period? FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION Designed to protect consumers from illness and harm There is no market for unsafe food FOOD SAFETY LAW Safe food Free from contamination Fit for human consumption Hygiene of food premises, equipment and personnel Hygienic practices (including temperature control) Control of food poisoning Composition, amount and labelling of food. FOOD SAFETY (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER, 1991 Provides the framework for all food legislation in Northern Ireland. Creates offences in relation to safety, quality, and labelling of food. Applies to all types of food businesses. FOOD SAFETY (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER, 1991 Definition of food: o Any substance or product, whether processed, partially processed or unprocessed, intended to be, or reasonably expected to be ingested by humans. o Includes drink, chewing gum and any substance intentionally incorporated into the food during its manufacture, preparation or treatment (eg) water. FOOD SAFETY (NI) ORDER, 1991 The main food safety and consumer protection offences created under this legislation include: o Rendering food to be sold for human consumption injurious/harmful to health o Food must be of the nature/substance and quality demanded by the consumer o Food must not be falsely described or presented. FOOD BUSINESS OPERATORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER THE FOOD SAFETY (NI) ORDER, 1991 Ensure you do not include anything in food, remove anything from food, or treat food in any way which means it would be damaging to the health of people eating it Ensure that the food you serve or sell is of the nature, substance or quality consumers would expect Ensure that food is labelled, advertised and presented in a way that is not false or misleading RENDERING FOOD TO BE SOLD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION INJURIOUS/HARMFUL TO HEALTH You are guilty of an offence if you make food harmful to health by: o Adding an article or substance to food; o Using an article or substance as an ingredient in its preparation; o Abstracting (which means “taking away”) any constituent from it; or  o Subjecting it to any other process or treatment NOTE: The offence applies whether the act is deliberate or not FOOD MUST BE OF THE NATURE/SUBSTANCE AND QUALITY DEMANDED BY THE CONSUMER “Nature” covers a product sold as one thing, but which is in fact another (eg) haddock sold as cod; “Substance” covers situations where the food contains foreign bodies (eg) an insect or damaging residues, or where the food falls below the statutory compositional standard (eg) milk powder with below the minimum milk protein level. “Quality” covers commercial quality (eg) a stale cake. FOOD MUST NOT BE FALSELY DESCRIBED OR PRESENTED offence may occur when statements are untrue or pictures of food are presented in a misleading way. The offence also covers material that is correct but given such emphasis that the purchaser is led to the wrong conclusion. Applies both to where consumers and other businesses are misled. PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE Prohibition from using part of business Fines and legal costs Prison sentence Closure of business Prohibition from running a food business Criminal record WHAT PENALTIES CAN BE IMPOSED UNDER THE ORDER? The courts decide the level of penalties depending on the circumstances of each case, but the Order sets the maximum penalties available to the courts. Magistrates' courts may impose a fine of up to £5,000 per offence and/or a prison sentence of up to six months.  Offences under Article 6 (Rendering food injurious to health) and Article 14 (falsely/misleadingly describing/presenting food), the maximum fine a magistrates' court may set for each offence is £20,000. There are also penalties for obstructing an authorised officer. DUE DILIGENCE The principal of defence under The Food Safety (NI) Order, 1991 Designed to balance the protection of the consumer against defective food with the right of traders not to be convicted of an offence they have taken reasonable care to avoid committing. This defence is available where the food company proves that it took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the offence (ie) be able to demonstrate that they have done everything within their power to safeguard consumer health. DUE DILIGENCE Burden of proof lies with the company accused but they need only persuade the court that they exercised due diligence (and not prove their case beyond all reasonable doubt). Accurate records are useful in proving this defence; these may include: o HACCP o Monitoring records – storage/cooking/delivery o Pest control o Cleaning schedules Alternative defence: Prove that someone else was at fault (but not another employee in the company!) ALTERNATIVE DEFENCES UNDER THE FOOD SAFETY (NI) ORDER, 1991 Where the commission of an offence was due to the act or default of another person; and For those charged with an offence related to the advertisements for sale of food, whose business it is to publish or arrange for the publication of such advertisements and who had no reason to suspect that publishing or arranging to publish an advertisement in the course of their business would amount to an offence. ENFORCING THE ORDER The Order provides that authorised officers of enforcement authorities can: o take samples of food and food ingredients;  o enter food premises unannounced to investigate possible offences; and o inspect food to see if it is safe. Authorised Officers may also detain suspect food or seize it and make an application to a Justice of the Peace. Authorised officers must be given the information and assistance which they reasonably require. NOTICES Enforcement officers may issues: Improvement Notices: o Require food business operators to take specific measures in relation to their business Prohibition Orders: o Prohibit processes or treatments of food or the use of particular premises or equipment Emergency Prohibition Notice: o Issued where evidence exists of imminent risk of injury to health o Can close down all or part of a food business Alternative to Emergency Prohibition Notice is the use of voluntary procedures to remove an imminent risk to health (eg) where a food business operator agrees that there is an imminent risk to health and offers to close voluntarily. Summary Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order, 1991 requires food business operators to follow food hygiene requirements (set out under Food Hygiene (Northern Ireland) Regulations , 2006. Environmental Health Officers have wide-ranging powers to control food safety Controls are the responsibility of everybody Many penalties for non-compliance Due diligence defence available Record-keeping is a legal requirement Every business must carry out a Hazard Analysis