Colouring Matter in Food Regulations 1973
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1973/1340 |
| Year | 1973 |
1973 No. 1340
FOOD AND DRUGS
COMPOSITION AND LABELLING
The Colouring Matter in Food Regulations 197326thJuly 1973
8thAugust 1973
30thAugust 1973Remainder1stJuly 1974
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 amended by section 4(1) of, and paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 4 to, the European Communities Act 1972(b) and as read with the Secretary of State for Social Services Order 1968(c), 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 after reference to the Food Hygiene Advisory Council under section 82 of the Food and Drugs Act 1955 (insofar as the regulations are made in exercise of the powers conferred by the said section 7):—
Citation and commencement
1. These regulations may be cited as the Colouring Matter in Food Regulations 1973, and shall come into operation as respects regulations 14 and 16(2) on 30th August 1973 and as respects the remainder on 1st July 1974.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
"the Act" means the Food and Drugs Act 1955;
"appropriate designation" means, as respects any permitted colouring matter or permitted diluent, a name or description or a name and description sufficiently specific, in each case, to indicate to an intending purchaser the true nature of the permitted colouring matter or permitted diluent to which it is applied;
(a) 4 & 5 Eliz. 2. c. 16.
(b) 1972 c. 68.
(c) S.I. 1968/1699 (1968 III, p. 4585).
"coffee" means the decorticated berries of coffee and includes any such berries which have been roasted or ground or roasted and ground;
"coffee product" means any dried or liquid extract of coffee, any coffee and chicory mixture, any dried or liquid extract of a coffee and chicory mixture, any coffee and fig mixture, or any dried or liquid extract of a coffee and fig mixture;
"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;
"diluent" means any substance used to dilute or dissolve colouring matter intended for use in food for human consumption;
"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 in section 198 of the Local Government Act 1972(a);
"human consumption" includes use in the preparation of food for human consumption;
"permitted colouring matter" means any colouring matter described in the table in, or paragraph 1 of, Part I of Schedule 1 to these regulations which complies with any specific purity criteria relating to that colouring matter specified in Part II of that Schedule and, so far as is not otherwise provided by any such specific purity criteria, with the general purity criteria specified in Part III of that Schedule, or any combination of two or more such colouring matters and (except in the definition of appropriate designation in this regulation, and in regulation 6 of and Schedules 1 and 4 to these regulations) shall be construed as including any permitted diluent combined with such colouring matter or combination of such colouring matters;
"permitted diluent" means any diluent described in Part I of Schedule 2 to these regulations, which complies with the general purity criteria specified in Part II of that Schedule or any permitted solvent which complies with the purity criteria specified in Part III of that Schedule and includes any combination of two or more such diluents or solvents or diluents and solvents;
"permitted solvent" has the meaning assigned to it by the Solvents in Food Regulations 1967(b), as amended(c);
"processed" in relation to any food, includes curing by smoking and any treatment or process resulting in a substantial change in the natural state of any food but does not include boning, paring, grinding, cutting, cleaning or trimming and "unprocessed" shall be construed accordingly;
"sell" includes offer or expose for sale or have in possession for sale, and
"sale" and "sold" shall be construed accordingly;
(a) 1972 c. 70.
(b) S.I. 1967/1582 (1967 III, p. 4385).
(c) S.I. 1967/1939 (1967 III, p. 5389).
"vegetables" includes pulses;
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) Unless a contrary intention is expressed, all proportions mentioned in these regulations are proportions calculated by weight of the product as sold.
(4) All proportions and quantities of any colouring matter mentioned in these regulations are calculated on the pure colouring matter.
(5) 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.
(6) For the purposes 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.
(7) Any reference in these regulations to any other regulations shall be construed as a reference to such regulations as amended by any subsequent regulations.
Exemptions
3. The provisions of these regulations shall not apply to any food having any colouring matter in it or on it, to any colouring matter or to any diluent combined with any colouring matter or colouring matters which, in each case, is intended at the time of sale, consignment, delivery or importation, as the case may be,—
(a) for exportation to any place outside the United Kingdom; or
(b) for the purpose of scientific laboratory testing, if the container of any such food, colouring matter or diluent bears a label stating clearly that such food, colouring matter or diluent, as the case may be, is sold, consigned, delivered or imported, as the case may be, only for such purpose.
Sale, etc. of food containing colouring matter
4.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3) of this regulation, no food sold, consigned, delivered or imported into England and Wales shall have in it or on it any colouring matter other than a permitted colouring matter.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3) of this regulation, no food sold, consigned, delivered or imported into England and Wales shall have in it or on it any mark, however effected, in any colouring matter other than a permitted colouring matter.
(3) Save as hereinafter provided, no food sold, consigned, delivered or imported into England and Wales shall have in it or on it any permitted colouring matter specified in column 2 of Schedule 3 to these regulations:
(a) 1889 c. 63.
Provided that any food specified in column 1 of that Schedule may have in it or on it any such permitted colouring matter specified in relation thereto in column 2 thereof subject to any restriction on use specified in relation thereto in column 3 thereof.
(4) No person shall sell, consign, deliver or import into England and Wales, any food which does not comply with this regulation.
Prohibition of the use of added colouring matter
5.—(1) Save as hereinafter provided, no meat, game, poultry, fish, fruit or vegetable, in a raw or unprocessed state, sold, consigned, delivered or imported into England and Wales for human consumption, shall have in it or on it (otherwise than for the purpose of marking) any added colouring matter:
Provided that the husk containing any nut may have in it or on it added permitted colouring matter.
(2) No tea (whether in leaf or essence form), coffee, coffee product, condensed milk or dried milk, sold, consigned, delivered or imported into England and Wales for human consumption shall have in it or on it any added colouring matter.
(3) No person shall sell, consign, deliver or import into England and Wales any food which does not comply with this regulation.
Inorganic and organic impurity limits for colouring matters and diluents
6.—(1) No permitted colouring matter sold, consigned, delivered or imported into England and Wales for use as an ingredient in the preparation of food and no permitted diluent combined with any such permitted colouring matter shall contain any inorganic or organic impurity specified in Part II or Part III, as the case may be, of Schedule 1 to these regulations in relation to such permitted colouring matter or in Part II or Part III, as the case may be, of Schedule 2 thereto in relation to such permitted diluent in excess of the amount therein prescribed for such impurity:
Provided that the maximum amount of any inorganic or organic impurity that may be contained in a combination of permitted colouring matters or of a permitted colouring matter or permitted colouring matters with a permitted diluent or permitted diluents shall be determined by multiplying the maximum amount of that impurity specified in Part II or Part III of Schedule 1 to these regulations in relation to each permitted colouring matter or in Part II or Part III of Schedule 2 thereto in relation to each permitted diluent, which in either case is contained in that combination, by the proportion of the total amount of such combination represented by that colouring matter or...
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