Food Safety Act 1990

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When I got a call last week from a Washington Post reporter that she was about to leave the food safety beat to cover education, I said congratulations until I learned than she would not be replaced.  Then came the Tweet from the Dean of Ag reporters, Phil Brasher, that the Des Moines register was closing its D.C. Bureau.  Losing two of the best reporters covering Ag and Food Safety issues is stunning--especially during a time when there are far more questions than answers about the safety and sustainability of our food supply. The Farm Bill is on the table and the Food Safety Modernization Act is on the chopping block and the public needs to be informed. Andrew Schneider has spent his career uncovering secrets that corporations and the government don't want you to know -- often because they could or are hurting you.  He broke the story of the asbestos poisoning of Libby, Montana, now infamous as the most deadly environmental disaster in the United States. His reporting led to the criminal indictment of W.R. Grace and some of its top executives -- leading to the largest environmental crime case in U.S. history. Schneider also was the first to report that fumes released by heating diacetyl, a butter flavoring used in thousands of consumer products, were destroying the lungs of food factory workers, mom-and-pop confection store owners and chefs across the country. He documented that seriously ill pilots were being allowed to fly commercial planes because the government looked the other way. He explained why scores of regular people--coal miner's daughters and cops--were bypassed, and sometimes died, because the organs they were next in line for went to New York diamond merchants and wealthy foreigners. He showed why life flight helicopter rescues sometimes became death flights because competition for patients trumped flight safety. And he disclosed a global honey-laundering network that allows adulterated honey from China to be sold to unsuspecting U.S. consumers.  Schneider's investigative work has been recognized with dozens of journalism awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes. Michele Simon will contribute periodic policy pieces for Food Safety News . Michelle is a public health lawyer who has been researching and writing about the food industry and food politics since 1996. She specializes in legal strategies to counter corporate tactics that harm the public's health.

Food Safety Act 1990

The UK Food safety legislation is composed of several parts.

The main piece of legislation is the Food Safety Act 1990.

Section 7 looks at the rendering of food injurious to health by:

The addition of an article or substance to the food

The use of an article or substance as an ingredient in the preparation or cooking of the food

Taking away any part from the food

Imparting the food to any process or treatment…

for the intention that it shall be sold for human consumption.

Section 14 states that selling to the purchaser’s prejudice any food which is not of the nature, substance or quality stipulated by the purchaser.

Section 15 looks at any false describing or presentation of food.

Section 20 ensures if the commissioning of an offence is due to the act or default of a third person, this person is guilty of the offence.

Under section 21 in proceedings for an offence under the provisions of Part 2 of the Act (which includes the offences listed above), it is a defence for a food business operator to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.

The ability of enforcement officers seizing and holding food that is thought to be contaminated.

Due Diligence defence.

The ability to sample food.

Enforcement officers are allowed to enter any food premises at any reasonable time without giving notice.

Food Safety Act 1990, Enforcement of the Food Safety Act 1990 in relation to crown premises

Food Safety Act 1990, code of practice. Responsibility for enforcement of the Food Safety Act 1990

Food Safety Act, 1990

Food Safety Act 1990, Enforcement of the food premises (registration) regulations

Food Safety Act 1990, Division of enforcement responsibilities for the quick frozen foodstuffs regulations 1990