Food Safety Act 1990 (Scotland)

Section 1 defines 'food' and other basic expressions used in the Act such as 'food business', 'food premises' and 'food source'. Readers should note that with effect from 7 December 2004, the definition of 'food' is aligned with the European definition in Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002.

Section 2 extends the meaning of sale to include food supplied in the course of a business and

Section 3 sets out presumptions applying to food and food ingredients; for instance that food commonly used for human consumption found on certain food premises is presumed to be intended for sale.

Section 7 sets out the offence of rendering food injurious to health. This is determined by reference to the factors set out in Article 14(4)(a) to (c) of Regulation 178/2002: that is, the short and long term effects on the consumer or subsequent generations, the probable cumulative toxic effects and the particular health sensitivities of any group of consumers for whom the food is intended.

Section 8 sets out what is meant by food which fails to comply with food safety requirements for the purposes of Part II of the Act .That is, food which is unsafe in terms of Article 14 of EC Regulation 178/2002. (discussed above).

Section 14 makes it an offence to sell food which is not of the "nature or substance or quality" demanded by the purchaser

Section 15 creates an offence of falsely describing, advertising or presenting food.

Section 9 of the Food Safety Act gives enforcement officers powers to inspect any food intended for human consumption and to detain or seize food suspected of not complying with food safety requirements. It allows a Sheriff or Justice of the Peace to condemn food when satisfied that food safety requirements are not met.

Section 10 provides for improvement notices to be issued where food hygiene or food processing regulations have been contravened.

Section 11 provides for prohibition orders to be imposed by the courts where there is a risk of injury to health and the proprietor of the food business has been convicted of an offence under food hygiene or food processing regulations.

Section 12 provides emergency prohibition powers for use by authorised officers or the courts where there is an imminent risk of injury to health.

Section 13 gives Scottish Ministers the power to make emergency control orders prohibiting commercial operations in relation to food, food sources or contact materials when there is an imminent risk of injury to health.

Section 20 enables a prosecution to be taken against the real offender as opposed to the immediate offender.

Section 21 provides for a defence if the accused can prove to a court that they took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing an offence.

Section 22 contains a special defence for businesses, which publish an advertisement in good faith.

Section 32 sets out who may enter premises to enforce the Act and explains what they can do while on premises. It also makes unauthorised disclosure of information obtained when using such powers an offence.

Section 33 makes it an offence intentionally to obstruct a person enforcing the Act or to provide false or misleading information.

Section 34 provides time limits for prosecutions.

Section 35 sets out the penalties for offences.

Section 36 provides that officers of a body corporate as well as the corporation itself are liable for prosecution where they are proved to have acted negligently or consented to the alleged offence.

Sections 37 and 39 provide for appeals against the decision of an enforcement authority to serve an improvement notice, and to refuse certificates under Section 11(6) or 12(8). Section 38 does not apply in Scotland.

Punishments and modes of trial may also be detailed in the individual Regulations having effect under the Act. Some older regulations containing offences and penalties were amended by the Food (Revision of Penalties and Mode of Trial) (Scotland) Regulations 1985, which lays down the maximum fines for summary convictions for offences under these Regulations. The current values of fines are set out in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, section 225.

Offences against regulations and mode of trial may be detailed in the individual regulations having effect under the Act. Penalties and modes of trial in individual regulations having effect under the Act have been altered by specific penalty regulations.

These are the Food (Revision of Penalties and Mode of Trial) (Scotland) Regulations 1985 (Category 1) which lay down the maximum fines for summary convictions for offences under the regulations.

Existing regulations with offences and penalties have also been amended by Consequential Modifications Orders made under the Act (see pages 3 and 4). The current values of fines are set out in the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

Section 54 provides for the Act to apply to the Crown and to Crown premises subject to special arrangements and certain exemptions. The Section came into effect on 1 April 1992.

Section 56 amends the Water (Scotland) Act 1980 to extend its controls on the quality of water used for domestic purposes to cover water used in food production.