Colours in Food Regulations 1995
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1995/3124 |
| Year | 1995 |
1995 No. 3124
FOOD
The Colours in Food Regulations 1995
Made 3rd December 1995
Laid before Parliament 11th December 1995
Coming into force 1st January 1996
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretary of State for Wales, acting jointly, in relation to England and Wales, and the Secretary of State for Scotland in relation to Scotland, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 6(4), 16(1)(a), 17(1), 26(1) and (3) and 48(1) of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to, the Food Safety Act 19901and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations, after consultation in accordance with section 48(4) of the said Act with such organisations as appear to them to be representative of interests likely to be substantially affected by the Regulations:
Title and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Colours in Food Regulations 1995, and shall come into force on 1st January 1996.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the Food Safety Act 1990;
the noun “colour” means a food additive which is used or intended to be used for the primary purpose of adding or restoring colouring in a food, and includes—
(a) any natural constituent of food and any natural source not normally consumed as food as such and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food, and
(b) any preparation obtained from food or from any other natural source material, by, in eilther case—
(i) physical extraction,
(ii) chemical extraction, or
(iii) physical and chemical extraction
which results in the selective extraction of the pigment relative to the nutritive or aromatic constituent,
but does not include—
(aa) any food (including one in dried or concentrated form),
(bb) any flavouring,
used, in either case, in the manufacture of any compound food because of its aromatic, sapid or nutritive properties albeit that it may also be used secondarily to add or restore colouring to such compound food, and
(cc) any colour when it is used only for colouring any inedible external part of a food;
“Directive 94/36/EC” means European Parliament and Council Directive 94/36/ EC2on colours for use in foodstuffs;
“Directive 95/45/EC” means Commission Directive 95/45/EC3laying down specific criteria of purity concerning colours for use in foodstuffs;
“food” means food sold, or intended for sale, for human consumption, and in regulation 8 and for the purposes of regulation 11 includes a colour;
“food additive” means any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or storage of such food results, or may reasonably be expected to result, in it or its by-products becoming directly or indirectly a component of such foods;
“infants” means children under the age of twelve months;
“member State” means a member State of the European Community;
“permitted colour” means any colour listed in Schedule 1 which satisfies the specific purity criteria for that colour set out in the annex to Directive 95/45/EC;
“processed” in relation to any food, means having undergone any treatment resulting in a substantial change in the original state of the food, but does not include dividing, parting, severing, boning, mincing, skinning, paring, peeling, grinding, cutting, cleaning, trimming, deep-freezing, freezing, chilling, milling, husking, packing or unpacking, and “unprocessed” shall be construed accordingly;
“sell” includes possess for sell, and offer, expose or advertise for sale, and “sale” and “sold”shall be construed accordingly;
“young children” means children aged between one and three years,
and other expressions used in these Regulations and in Directive 94/36/EChave, in so far as the context admits, the same meaning as they bear in that Directive.
(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a Community instrument is a reference to it as amended, modified or otherwise adapted.
(3) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to the regulation or Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations, and including in the case of a Schedule any note thereto.
(4) Any reference in these Regulations or in a Schedule thereto to—
(a)
(a) a maximum level of permitted colour in or on a food is to the maximum amount, in milligrams, of colouring principle contained in that permitted colour per kilogram or, as the case may be, per litre of food which is ready to eat having been prepared according to any instructions for use;
(b)
(b)quantum satis, means that no maximum level of permitted colour in or on a corresponding food is specified but that in or on such food a permitted colour may be used in accordance with good manufacturing practice at a level not higher than is necessary to achieve the intended purpose and provided that such use does not mislead the consumer.
Use of colours in or on food
3.—(1) No person shall use in or on any food any colour other than a permitted colour.
(2) No person shall use any permitted colour in or on any food listed in Schedule 2 except in accordance with paragraph 3(a) below.
(3) Subject to paragraph (4) below and to regulations 4, 5 and 6, no person shall use any permitted colour in or on any food unless—
(a)
(a) the food is one listed—
(i) in Column 1 of Schedule 3, in which case there may be used in or on such food any permitted colour which is listed in relation to it in Column 2 of Schedule 3 in an amount not exceeding the maximum level for such permitted colour in or on such food as listed in Column 3 of Schedule 3; or
(ii) in Column 2 of Schedule 4, in which case there may be used in or on such food any permitted colour which is listed in relation to it in Column 1 of Schedule 4 in an amount not exceeding the maximum level for such permitted colour in or on such food as listed in Column 3 of Schedule 4; or
(iii) in Part III of Schedule 5, in which case there may be used in or on such food any of the permitted colours listed in Parts I or II of Schedule 5 in accordance with the conditions contained in that Schedule governing the use of such colours in or on such foods;
(b)
(b) the food is not listed in either Schedule 2 or in Column 1 of Schedule 3, in which case there may be used in or on such food any one or more of the permitted colours listed in Part I of Schedule 5 up to an amount (in each case) ofquantum satis.
(4) No person shall use any permitted colour listed in Column 1 of Schedule 4 in or on any food other than the food or foods listed in relation to that permitted colour in Column 2 of that Schedule.
Health marking etc. of certain meat and meat products
4. No person shall use any colour for the purpose of any health marking as provided for in the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 19954or any other marking required on any meat product, other than the permitted colours—
(a) E 155 Brown HT;
(b) E 133 Brilliant Blue FCF;
(c) E 129 Allura Red AC, or
(d) an appropriate mixture of (b) and (c) above.
Use of colours on eggshells
5. No person shall use any colour for—
(a) the decorative colouring, or
(b) the stamping (as provided for in Regulation (EEC) No. 1274/915, introducing detailed rules for implementing Regulation (EEC) No. 1907/90on certain marketing standards for eggs),
of eggshells, other than a permitted colour.
Use of colours in or on compound foods
6.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3) below, any food in or on which a permitted colour is used without contravening any of the provisions of paragraphs (2), (3) or (4) of regulation 3 may itself be used as an ingredient in a compound food in or on which the use of such colour is not otherwise permitted, and the presence in or on that compound food of such colour as a result of its containing such an ingredient shall not constitute a contravention of any of the provisions of those paragraphs of regulation 3.
(2) There may be used in or on a food any permitted colour the use of which would otherwise constitute a contravention of any of the provisions of paragraphs (2), (3) or (4) of regulation 3, where such a food is destined to be used solely in the preparation of a compound food and the resulting presence in or on that compound food of such colour does not itself constitute a contravention of any of the provisions of those paragraphs of regulation 3.
(3) Paragraph 1 above shall not apply in the case of any compound food listed in Schedule 2.
Sale of colours and food containing colours
7.—(1) No person shall sell any colour for use in or on food unless such colour is a permitted colour.
(2) No person shall sell directly to the consumer any colour other than a specified permitted colour.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2) above, a “specified permitted colour” shall be any permitted colour other than—
(a)
(a) E 123 Amaranth;
(b)
(b) E 127 Erythrosine;
(c)
(c) E 128 Red 2G;
(d)
(d) E 154 Brown FK;
(e)
(e) E 160b Annatto, bixin, norbixin;
(f)
(f) E 161g Canthaxanthin;
(g)
(g) E 173 Aluminium, and
(h)
(h) E 180 Litholrubine BK.
(4) No person shall sell any food having in it or on it any added colour other than a permitted colour that has been used in or on that food without contravening any of the provisions of regulations 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Condemnation of food
8. Where any food is certified by a food analyst as being food which it is an offence against these Regulations to...
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