Food and Drugs Act 1938
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1938 c. 56 |
| Year | 1938 |
Food and Drugs Act, 1938
(1 & 2 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 56.
An Act to consolidate with amendments certain enactments relating to food, drugs, markets, slaughter-houses and knackers' yards.
[29th July 1938]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I.
General Provisions as to Food and Drugs.
Composition of food and drugs.
1 Restrictions on the addition of other substancesto any food or drug.
(1) No person shall add, or direct or permit any other person to add—
(a ) any substance to any food so as to render the food injurious to health; or
(b ) any substance to any drug so as to affect injuriously the quality or potency of the drug,
with the intent that the food or drug may be sold in that state.
(2) No person shall sell, or have in his possession for the purpose of sale, any food or drug to which any substance has been so added.
(3) A person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence.
2 Restrictions on the abstraction from any food ofany constituent thereof.
(1) No person shall abstract, or direct or permit any other person to abstract, from any food any constituent thereof so as to affect injuriously the nature, substance or quality of the food with intent that it may be sold in its altered state—
(a ) without notice to the purchaser of the alteration; or
(b ) whether with or without such notice, if in that state the food does not comply with any relevant provisions contained in regulations made under this Act for prescribing the composition of food.
(2) A person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence.
3 Prohibition against sale of any food or drug notof the nature, substance or quality demanded.
(1) If a person sells to the prejudice of the purchaser any food or drug which is not of the nature, or not of the substance, or not of the quality, of the food or drug demanded by the purchaser, he shall, subject to the provisions of the next succeeding section, be guilty of an offence.
(2) Where regulations made under this Act contain provisions prescribing the composition of, or prohibiting or restricting the addition of any substance to, any food, a purchaser of that food shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed for the purposes of this section to have demanded food complying with the provisions of the regulations.
(3) In proceedings under this section it shall not be a defence to allege that the purchaser bought for analysis or examination and therefore was not prejudiced.
4 Defences available in proceedings under section three.
4. In proceedings under the last preceding section it shall be a defence for the defendant to prove—
(1) where some substance has been added to the food or drug in questions—
(a ) in the case of a food, that the substance is not, and its addition has not rendered the food, injurious to health; or, in the case of a drug, that the addition has not affected injuriously the quality or potency of the drug; and
(b ) that the addition was not made fraudulently to increase the bulk, weight or measure, or conceal the inferior quality, of the food or drug; and
(c ) either—
(i) that the addition was required for the production or preparation of the food or drug as an article of commerce in a state fit for carriage or consumption; or
(ii) that a label satisfying the requirements of the next succeeding section was attached to, or printed on the wrapper or container of, the article sold;
(2) where some constituent has been abstracted from the food or drug in question—
(a ) that the abstraction has not rendered the food injurious to health, or, as the case may be, affected injuriously the quality or potency of the drug, and was not made fraudulently to conceal the inferior quality of the food or drug; and
(b ) either—
(i) that the abstraction was required for the production or preparation of the food or drug as an article of commerce in a state fit for carriage or consumption; or
(ii) that a label satisfying the requirements of the next succeeding section was attached to, or printed on the wrapper or container of, the article sold;
(3) where the food or drug in question is the subject, of a patent in force, that it was supplied in the state required by the specification of the patent;
(4) where the food or drug in question contains some extraneous matter, that the presence of that matter was an unavoidable consequence of the process of collection or preparation;
(5) that the article supplied was a proprietary medicine and was supplied in response to a demand for that medicine;
(6) where the proceedings are in respect of diluted whisky, brandy, rum or gin, that the spirit in question had been diluted with water only and that its strength was still not lower than thirty-five degrees under proof:
Provided that—
5 Provisions as to labels.
(1) A label shall afford no defence under subparagraph (c or sub-paragraph (b ) (ii) of paragraph (2) of the last preceding section unless the following requirements are satisfied:—
(a ) the label must state explicitly what substance has been added to, or what constituent has been abstracted from, the food or drug; and
(b ) it must be of adequate size, and have the notice of addition or abstraction distinctly and legibly printed and conspicuously visible.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in the preceding subsection, the requirements thereof shall, as respects a mixture, be deemed to be satisfied by a label which has been continuously in use without any material variation since the first day of January eighteen hundred and ninety-three and bears a statement to the effect that the article in question is mixed, or by a label which has been continuously in use without any material variation since the first day of October nineteen hundred and thirty-two and bears such a statement distinctly and legibly printed and unobscured by other matter on the label.
6 Labels and advertisements describing incorrectlyfood or drugs.
(1) A person who gives with any food or drug sold by him a label, whether attached to or printed on the wrapper or container or not, which falsely describes that food or drug, or is otherwise calculated to mislead as to its nature, substance or quality, shall be guilty of an offence, unless he proves that he did not know, and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained, that the label was of such a character as aforesaid.
(2) A person who publishes, or is a party to the publication of, an advertisement (not being such a label so given by him as aforesaid) which falsely describes any food or drug, or is otherwise calculated to mislead as to its nature, substance or quality, shall be guilty of an offence:
Provided that in proceedings under this subsection it shall be a defence for the defendant to prove either—
(a ) that he did not know, and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained, that the advertisement was of such a character as aforesaid; or
(b ) that, being a person whose business it is to publish, or arrange for the publication of, advertisements, he received the advertisement for publication in the ordinary course of business.
In any such proceedings as aforesaid against the manufacturer, producer or importer of the food or drug, it shall rest on the defendant to prove that he did not publish, and was not a party to the publication of, the advertisement.
7 Presumptive evidence as to injurious nature of food.
7. Where regulations made under this Act contain provisions prohibiting or restricting the addition of any substance to any food, the addition of that substance—
for the purposes of this Part of this Act be deemed to render the food injurious to health.
Regulations as to food.
8 Power of Minister of Health to make regulations asto the importation, preparation, storage, sale, delivery, &c. of food.
(1) The Minister of Health (hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the Minister’) may, subject to the provisions of this section, make regulations (in this Act referred to as ‘Food Regulations’) for all or any of the purposes mentioned in any of the following paragraphs, that is to say:—
(a ) authorising measures to be taken for the prevention of danger to health from the importation, preparation,...
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