Chapter 12Criminal liability in business■failing to provide information as required by the
regulations.
Notices
Unsafe goods can be dealt with by means of various
notices. The Secretary of State can issue two kinds of
notice: a prohibition noticerequiring a trader to cease
supplying unsafe goods, and a notice to warnrequiring
a manufacturer or distributor to warn the public about
the dangers of a product in circulation. Any enforce-
ment authority such as the local authority trading
standards department may issue a suspension notice,
which requires a trader to cease supplying goods sus-
pected of breaching any safety provisions for a period of
six months. It is a criminal offence to contravene these
notices.
Enforcement and penalties
The provisions of Part II of the CPA 1987 are enforced
by trading standards officers. In addition to the power to
obtain a suspension notice already mentioned, they may
apply for a court order for the forfeiture of any goods
which contravene any safety provision.
The penalties for offences are a maximum fine of
£5,000 and six months’ imprisonment on conviction in
the magistrates’ court.
Safety and quality of food
Food has been the subject of protective legislation since
the Middle Ages. Modern food law is contained in the
Food Safety Act 1990 (FSA 1990) as amended by the
Food Safety Act 1990 (Amendment) Regulations 2004
(SI 2004/2990) and the General Food Regulations
2004 (SI 2004/3279). The scope of the FSA 1990 is not
confined to food safety; it also covers matters such as
composition, labelling and advertising.
Food Safety Act 1990
Before we consider the main offences created by the
FSA 1990, it is necessary to establish what is meant by
the word ‘food’. Following amendment in 2004, the FSA
1990 now uses the definition of ‘food’ contained in the
EC General Food Law Regulations (EC 178/2002). Food
means ‘any substance or product, whether processed,
partially processed, or unprocessed, intended to be or
reasonably expected to be ingested by humans’. It in-
cludes drink, chewing gum and any substances (includ-
ing water) intentionally incorporated into food during
its manufacture, preparation or treatment. Anything
supplied to a customer which purports to be food will be
treated as such. For example, if a customer in a restaur-
ant orders lemonade but by mistake is supplied with
caustic soda, the owner of the restaurant cannot argue
that caustic soda is not ‘food’ because he purported to
supply lemonade, which is within the definition of food
(Meahv Roberts(1978)). Live animals, feeding stuffs for
animals, tobacco and tobacco products, narcotics and
psychotropic substances, cosmetics, controlled drugs and
medicine are all excluded from the definition of ‘food’.The main offences under the Food
Safety ActRendering food injurious to health (s 7)
It is an offence under s 7(1) for a person to render food
injurious to health with the intent that it shall be sold for
human consumption. To be guilty of an offence under
s 7, the defendant must have done some positive act,
which has resulted in the food becoming injurious to
health. Such acts include:
(a) adding an article to the food (s 7(1)(a));
(b) using an article or substance as an ingredient in
the preparation of food (s 7(1)(b)) (preparation
includes any form of processing and treatment,
such as subjecting food to heat or cold);
(c) abstracting any constituent from the food
(s 7(1)(c));
(d) subjecting the food to any other process or treat-
ment (s 7(1)(d)) (processing and treatment may
cover the early stages in the production of food, e.g.
crop spraying).
Defects in food arising from inaction (i.e. natural
growth of mould) and failure to remove natural features
of food, e.g. naturally occurring toxins in red kidney
beans, are not covered by s 7.
Article 14(4) of Regulation EC 178/2002 states that, in
deciding whether food is injurious to health, regard
should be had:(a) to not only the probable immediate and/or short-
term and/or long-term effects of that food on the
health of a person consuming it, but also on sub-
sequent generations;365