Cheese Regulations 1970
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1970/94 |
| Year | 1970 |
1970 No. 94
FOOD AND DRUGS
COMPOSITION AND LABELLING
The Cheese Regulations 197023rdJanuary 1970
30thJanuary 1970
31stJanuary 1970
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Social Services, acting jointly, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 4, 7 and 123 of the Food and Drugs Act 1955(a), as read with the Secretary of State for Social Services Order 1968(b), and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following regulations after consultation with such organisations as appear to them to be representative of interests substantially affected by the regulations and reference to the Food Hygiene Advisory Council under section 82 of the said Act (insofar as the regulations are made in exercise of the powers conferred by the said section 7):—
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Citation and commencement
1. These regulations may be cited as the Cheese Regulations 1970, and shall come into operation on 31st January 1970.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
"the Act" means the Food and Drugs Act 1955 ;
"cheese" means the fresh or matured product intended for sale for human consumption, which is obtained as follows—
(a) in the case of any cheese other than whey cheese—
(i) by coagulating any or a combination of any of the following substances, namely milk, cream, skimmed milk, partly skimmed milk, concentrated skimmed milk, reconstituted dried milk and butter milk, and
(ii) partially draining the whey resulting from any such coagulation ;
(a) 4 & 5 Eliz. 2. c. 16.
(b) S.I. 1968/1699 (1968 III, p. 4585).
(b) in the case of whey cheese—
(i) by concentrating whey with or without the addition of milk and milk fat, and moulding such concentrated whey, or
(ii) by coagulating whey with or without the addition of milk and milk fat;
"cheese spread" means cheese which has been subjected to a process of melting and mixing with milk products other than cheese, with or without the addition of emulsifying salts;
"compound product" means food which consists of a combination of two or more foods and which does not contain less than 10 per cent. cheese, processed cheese or cheese spread or any mixture of two or more of them, as a percentage of the compound product, but does not include any pie, pudding, cake, confectionery, biscuit, Welsh rarebit or any product similar to Welsh rarebit;
"container" includes any form of packaging of food for sale as a single item, whether by way of wholly or partly enclosing the food or by way of attaching the food to some other article, and in particular includes a wrapper or confining band;
"emulsifying salts" means the sodium, potassium, calcium or ammonium salts of citric, phosphoric, polyphosphoric and tartaric acid;
"food" means food intended for sale for human consumption and includes drink, chewing gum and other products of a like nature and use, and articles and substances used as ingredients in the preparation of food or drink or of such products, but does not include—
(a) water, live animals or birds,
(b) fodder or feeding stuffs for animals, birds or fish, or
(c) articles or substances used only as drugs;
"food and drugs authority" has the meaning assigned to it by section 83 of the Act;
"hard cheese" means cheese other than soft cheese, whey cheese, processed cheese or cheese spread ;
"human consumption" includes use in the preparation of food for human consumption;
"processed cheese" means cheese which has been subjected to a process of melting and mixing with or without the addition of emulsifying salts ;
"sell" includes offer or expose for sale or have in possession for sale, and "sale" and "sold" shall be construed accordingly ;
"sell by retail" means sell to a person buying otherwise than for the purpose of re-sale but does not include selling to a caterer for the purposes of his catering business, or selling to a manufacturer for the purposes of his manufacturing business ;
"soft cheese" means cheese which is readily deformed by moderate pressure, but does not include whey cheese, processed cheese or cheese spread, and any reference to soft cheese includes a reference to cream cheese or curd cheese;
"starter" means a living culture in milk, cream, skimmed milk, partly skimmed milk, concentrated skimmed milk, reconstituted dried milk, or butter milk, of lactic-acid-producing bacteria;
"whey cheese" means the product obtained by one or other of the processes referred to in paragraph (b) of the foregoing definition of "cheese" ;
AND other expressions have the same meaning as in the Act.
(2) The Interpretation Act 1889(a) shall apply to the interpretation of these regulations as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament and as if these regulations and the regulations hereby revoked were Acts of Parliament.
(3) All percentages mentioned in these regulations are percentages calculated by weight, and unless a contrary intention is expressed, are calculated on the total weight of the cheese.
(4) Any reference in these regulations to a label borne on a container shall be construed as including a reference to any legible marking on the container however effected.
(5) For the purpose of these regulations, the supply of food, otherwise than by sale, at, in or from any place where food is supplied in the course of a business, shall be deemed to be a sale of that food, and references to purchasing and purchasers shall be construed accordingly.
(6) Any reference in these regulations to any other regulations shall be construed as a reference to such regulations as amended by any subsequent regulations.
(7) Any reference in these regulations to a numbered regulation shall unless the reference is to a regulation of specified regulations, be construed as a reference to the regulation bearing that number in these regulations.
Exemptions
3. The following provisions of these regulations shall not apply, except insofar as they relate to advertisements other than labels or wrappers, in relation to any cheese, processed cheese, cheese spread or compound product sold, consigned or delivered for—
(a) exportation to any place outside the United Kingdom ; or
(b) consumption by a visiting force within the meaning of any of the provisions of Part I of the Visiting Forces Act 1952(b); or
(c) use by a manufacturer for the purposes of his manufacturing business.
PART II
COMPOSITION AND DESCRIPTION OF CHEESE, PROCESSED CHEESE AND CHEESE SPREAD
Composition and description of hard cheese
4.—(1) Any hard cheese sold, consigned or delivered under the name of a variety specified in column 1 of Schedule 1 to these regulations, whether or not such cheese was manufactured in the United Kingdom, shall comply with the percentages for milk fat and water set out respectively in columns 2 and 3 of the said Schedule opposite the name of such cheese.
(2) Any hard cheese sold, consigned or delivered, other than hard cheese to which the foregoing paragraph of this regulation applies, shall satisfy either the requirements of sub-paragraph (a) or the requirements of sub-paragraph (b)
(a) 1889 c. 63.
(b) 1952 c. 67.
following, except that the appropriate description or declaration need be borne by any hard cheese sold, consigned or delivered otherwise than in a container only when such cheese is sold by retail—
(a) such cheese shall bear one of the following descriptions and comply with the following compositional requirements for cheese of such description, namely—
(i) "full fat hard cheese", if the cheese contains not less than 48 per cent. milk fat in the dry matter and not more than 48 per cent. water;
(ii) "medium fat hard cheese", if the cheese contains less than 48 per cent, and not less than 10 per cent. milk fat in the dry matter, and not more than 48 per cent. water;
(iii) "skimmed milk hard cheese", if the cheese contains less than 10 per cent. milk fat in the dry matter, and not more than 48 per cent. water; or
(b) such cheese shall bear a true declaration of either—
(i) the minimum percentage milk fat content in the dry matter, and the maximum percentage water content, or
(ii) the minimum percentage milk fat content,
so however that as respects any sale, consignment or delivery on or after 1st January 1973 of any hard cheese bearing such a declaration, that declaration shall be in such of the following forms as is appropriate: —
(aa) "x% fat in dry matter" and "y% moisture", and the declaration shall be completed by inserting at "x" and "y" respectively the percentages...
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