ADULTERATED FOOD AND DRUGS ORDINANCE

ADULTERATED FOOD AND DRUGS ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 132.

ADULTERATED FOOD AND DRUGS.

To make better provision for the sale of food and drugs in an
unadulterated state.

[1st January, 1936.]

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Adulterated

Food and Drugs Ordinance.

2. In this Ordinance

'analyst' means the Government Chemist or an analyst appointed by the
Governor for the purposes of this Ordinance;

'appliance' includes the whole or any part of any utensil, machinery,
instrument, apparatus or article used or intended for LISC in or for
the making, keeping, preparing or supplying of any food;

'drug' means any substance or mixture of substances used by man as
a medicine, whether internally or externally, and includes
anxsthetics

'food' means any article used as food or drink for human
consumption, other than drugs or water, and includes(a) any
substance which is intended for use in the

composition or preparation of food; (b) any flavouring
matter or condiment; and (c) any colouring matter intended for
use in food:

Provided that, notwithstanding anything in this definition,
the addition of any colouring or flavouring matter or condiment to
an article used as food or drink shall be deemed to be the addition
of a substance to food;

'officer' means any person authorized in writing by the Urban Council
on the recommendation of the Director of Medical and Health
Services for the purposes of this Ordinance;

'package' includes every means by which goods for carriage or for
sale are cased, covered, enclosed, contained or packed;

'sale' or 'sell' includes barter and also includes offering or attempting
to sell or receiving for sale or having in possession for sale or
exposing for sale or sending or





delivering for sale or causing or allowing to be sold,

offered or exposed for sale and refers only to sale for

human consumption or use. 'substance' includes a liquid.

3. (1) It shall be lawful for the Governor in Council by regulations
to prescribe or provide for

(a)the standard of strength, weight, quality or quantity of any
food or drug or of any ingredient or component part thereof.,

(b)prohibition of the addition of any specified thing or of more
than the specified quantity or proportion thereof to any food
or drug;

(c)prohibition of any modes of manufacture, preparation or
preservation of any food or drug:

(d)cleanliness and freedom from contamination of any food or
drug in the course of its manufacture, preparation, storage,
packing, carriage, delivery or exposure for sale, and
cleanliness of places, receptacles, appliances aiid vehicles
used in such manufacture preparation, storage, packing,
carriage or delivery;

(e)the mode of labelling food or drugs sold in packages and the
niatter to be contained or riot to be contained in the labels;

(f) the method of analysis of any food or drug and the form of
certificate of analysis;

(g)the fees to be paid in respect of the analysis of any food or
drug by aii analyst;

(h)prohibition of the sale of specified articles of food otherwise
than by weight; and

(i)offences and penalties under regulations made hereunder :
Provided that no penalty so prescribed shall exceed a fine of
one thousand dollars ;

(j) generally carrying out the provisions of this Ordinance.

(2) Any such regulation may be made applicable either to foods or
drugs generally or to specified foods or drugs only.

4. (1) Any officer may-

(a)at all reasonable times enter into and inspect any place where
there is any food or drug which he has





reasonable ground for believing to be intended for sale ;

(b)mark, seal or otherwise secure, weigh, count or measure any
food or drug the sale, preparation or manufacture of which is
or appears to be contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance
or the regulations made thereunder;

(c)seize any food or drug, wherever found, which is or appears
to be unwholesome or deleterious io health;

(d)if authorized so to do by the Director of Medical and Health
Services, destroy any food or drug wherever found, which is
decayed or putrid;

(e)inspect any food or drug, wherever found, which he has
reasonable ground for believing to be intended for sale.

(2) Any person claiming anything seized under this section may
within forty-eight hours after such seizure complain to a magistrate
who may either confirm or disallow such seizure wholly or in part and.
may order the article seized to be restored.

(3) If within forty-eight hours after such seizure no complaint has
been made or if such seizure is confirmed, the article seized shall
become the property of the Government and shall be destroyed or
otherwise disposed of so as to prevent its being used for human
consumption.

5. (1) On payment or tender to any person selling or making any
food or drug or to his agent or servant of the current market value of
the samples in this section referred to, any officer may at any place
demand and select and take or obtain samples of the said food or drug
for the purpose of analysis.

(2) Any such officer may require the said person or his agent or
servant to show and permit the inspection of the package in which
such food or drug is at the time kept and to take therefrom the samples
demanded.

(3) Where any food or drug is kept for retail sale in an unopened
package, no person shall be required by any officer to sell less than
the whole of the contents of such package.





(4) Any person who refuses or neglects to comply with any
demand or requisition made by an officer in pursuance of this
section commits an offence unless he proves that he had no
knowledge or reason to believe that the sample demanded was
required for the purpose of analysis.

6. Any person may, on payment of the prescribed fee
together with the cost of the sample, require any officer to
purchase a sample of any food or drug and submit the same for
analysis.

7. (1) Where it is intended to submit any sample for analysis,
the officer purchasing or otherwise procuring it shall, before or
forthwith after procuring it, inform the seller or his agent selling
the article that lie intends to have the same analysed by aii
analyst.

(2) He shall thereupon divide the sample into three parts and
shall mark and seal or fasten up, in such manner as its nature
will permit, each such part and shall offer one of such parts to
the seller or his agent.

(3) He shall subsequently deliver, personally, another of
such parts to an analyst and shall retain the third of such parts.

(4) When any sample for analysis is procured in an
unopened package, the officer procuring the same shall
retain such package and at the time of delivering a part
of the sample to an analyst shall also deliver to him such
package together with any label which may have been
attached to the said package at the time it was procured.


8. (1) The certificate of the analyst shall be in the form
prescribed by regulations.

(2) Where any method of analysis, chemical or

physical, has been prescribed by regulations for the analysis of
any food or drug, any analyst either for the prosecution or
defence shall follow and shall in his certificate of analysis
declare that he has followed the prescribed method in his
analysis.

(3) A copy of the result of any analysis of any food or drug
procured by an officer may be obtained from the analyst by the
person from whom the article so analysed was pur-





chased or obtained on payment of such fee, not exeeding one dollar,
as may be prescribed.

(4) No such copy of an analysis shall be used as an
advertisement and if any person so uses it he commits an offence.

9. (1) If in the opinion of any officer there is reasonable ground for
suspecting that any person is in possession of any food or drug or
other substance for the purpose of sale or of manufacturing or
preparing the same for sale in breach of this Ordinance or the
regulations made thereunder, lie may require such person to produce
for his inspection or to produce to any specially authorized officer any
books or documents dealing with the reception, possession, purchase,
sale or delivery of any such food or drug or other substance.

(2) Any officer may make or cause to be inade copies of or extracts
from any such books or documents, and such copies or extracts
certified as such by any specially authorized officer shall, unless the
contrary is proved, be deemed to be true aiid correct copies or extracts.

(3) Any person who refuses or neglects to comply with any
requisition made in pursuance of this section commits an offence.

(4) Any officer who does not maintain the secrecy of all matters
which come to his knowledge in the performance of his official duties
under this section or who communicates any such niatter to any
person whomsoever except for the purpose of carrying into effect the
provisions of this Ordinance shall
be liable to a fine of five hundred dollars.

Offences and penalties, etc.

10. (1) Any person commits an offence who-

(a)sells any adulterated food or adulterated drug without fully
informing the purchaser at the time of the sale of the nature of
the adulteration, unless the package in which, it is sold has
conspicuously printed thereon a true description of the
composition of such food or drug;

(b)sells any food or drug in any package which bears or has
attached thereto any false or misleading





statement, word, brand, label or mark purporting to indicate
the nature, quality, strength, purity, composition, weight,
origin, age or proportion of the article contained in the
package or of any ingredient thereof;

(c)sells any food or drug containing any substance the
addition of which is prohibited by any regulation made under
this Ordinance;

(d)sells any food or drug containing a greater proportion of any
substance than is permitted by any regulation made under
this Ordinance;

(e)sells any food which contains methylated alcohol; sells any
food which is unsound or unfit for human consumption.

(2) Every person who commits any offence mentioned in this
section shall for the first offence be liable to a fine of two thousand
dollars and for any subsequent offence under this section, whether of
the same or a different nature, to a fine of two thousand dollars and six
months' imprisonment.

11. Any person who without authority opens, alters, breaks,
removes or erases any mark, fastening or seal placed by any officer in
pursuance of the provisions of this Ordinance upon any food or drug
or upon any package, place, door or opening containing or affording
access to any food or drug commits aii offence aiid shall be liable to a
fine of one thousand dollars.

12. Any person who commits an offence against this Ordinance
for which no penalty is otherwise expressly provided shall be liable to a
fine of one thousand dollars.

13. (1) In the case of any conviction under this Ordinance the
magistrate may order that any food or drug to which the conviction
relates and any similar food or drug found on the defendant's premises
or in his possession at the time of the commission of the offence,
together with all packages containing the same, shall be forfeited.

(2) Everything so forfeited shall be disposed of as the
Director of Medical and Health Services directs.





14. A notification of the name and occupation of any person who
has been convicted of any offence against this Ordinance together
with his place or places of business, the nature of the offence and the
fine, forfeiture or other penalty inflicted shall, if the magistrate so
orders, be published in any newspaper circulating in the Colony.

Presumptions of law.

15. For the purposes of this Ordinance any food or drug shall be
deemed to be adulterated if

(a)it contains or is mixed or diluted with any substance which
diminishes in any nianner its nutritive or other beneficial
properties as compared with such article in a pure and
normal state and in an undeteriorated and sound condition,
or which in any other manner operates or may operate to the
prejudice or disadvantage of the purchaser or consumer ;

(b)any substance or ingredient has been extracted or omitted
therefrom and by reason of such extraction or omission the
nutritive or other beneficial properties of the article as sold
are less than those of the article in its pure and normal state,
or the purchaser or consumer is or may be in any manner
prejudiced;

(e)it contains or is mixed or diluted with any substance of lower
commercial value than such article in a pure and normal state
and in an undeteriorated and sound condition;

(d)it does not comply with the standard therefor prescribed by
any regulation made under this Ordinance.

16. Where any food or drug in connexion with which there is a breach
of any provision of this Ordinance is sold in an unopened
package, any person who appears from any statement thereon or
attached thereto to have imported or manufactured or prepared such
food or drug or to have enclosed it in such package shall, unless he
proves the contrary, be deemed to have so imported, manufactured,
prepared or enclosed the same and shall be liable to the same fine as if
he had actually sold the same.





17. For the purposes of this Ordinance every person shall be
deemed to sell any food or drug who sells the same either on his own
account or as the agent or servant of any other person, and in the case
of any sale by an agent or servant his principal or employer shall be
under the same liability as if he had effected the sale personally.

18. (1) When any food or drug is sold or exposed or offered for
sale, it shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be sold or
exposed or offered for sale for human consumption or use.

(2) The purchase and sale of a sample of any food or drug under
the provisions of this Ordinance for the purpose of analysis shall be
deemed to be a purchase and sale of such food or drug for human
consumption or use unless the seller proves that the bulk froni which
such sample was taken was not offered, exposed or intended for sale
for human consumption or use.

(3) For the purposes of this Ordinance every person shall be
deemed to sell or to intend to sell any food or drug if lie sells or intends
to sell for human consumption or use any article of which such food or
drug is a constituent.

Legal proceedings and evidence, etc.

19. (1) All proceedings in respect of an offence against this
Ordinance shall be taken in a summary manner before a magistrate.

(2) The summons in any such proceedings shall not be made
returnable in less than fourteen days from the day on which it is
served.

(3) There shall be served with the summons a copy of the
analyst's certificate (if any) on which the prosecution is based.

20. In a prosecution for selling any food or drug contrary to the
provisions of this Ordinance or of any regulation made thereunder it
shall be no defence that the defendant did not act wilfully unless he
also proves that he took all reasonable steps to ascertain that the sale of
the article would not constitute an offence against the Ordinance or
regulation.





21. (1) Subject to the provisions hereinafter in this section
contained it shall be a good defence in any prosecution for an offence
under section io if the defendant proves that he purchased the article
sold by him in reliance on a written warranty or other written statement
as to the nature of the articles purchased, signed by or on behalf of the
person from whom the defendant purchased the same, and that, if the
article had truly conformed to such warranty or statement, the sale of
the article by the defendant would not have constituted the offence
charged against him.

(2) No warranty or other written statement given or made by a
person resident outside the Colony shall be any defence under this
section unless the defendant proves that lie had taken reasonable
steps to ascertain and did in fact believe in the truth of the matters set
forth in such warranty or statement.

(3) No warranty or other written statement shall be any defence
under this section if it is proved that the defendant knew or had reason
to suspect that the article sold did not conform to such warranty or
statement.

(4) No warranty or other written statement shall be any defence in
any prosecution unless the defendant has within seven days after
service of the summons delivered to the prosecutor a copy of such
warranty or statement with a written notice stating that lie intends to
rely thereon and specifying the name and address of the person from
whorn he received it, and has also within the same time sent by
registered post a like notice of his intention to such person.

(5) When the defendant is a servant or agent of the person who
purchased the article under such a warranty or written statement, he
shall be entitled to the benefit of this section in the same manner and to
the same extent as his employer or principal would have been if he had
been the defendant, unless it is proved that the servant or agent knew
or had reason to suspect that the article did riot conform to the
warranty or statement.

22. (1) A certificate of analysis purporting to be under the hand of
an analyst shall, on production thereof by the prosecutor, be sufficient
evidence of the facts stated therein unless the defendant requires that
the analyst be





called as a witness, in which case he shall give notice thereof to the
prosecutor not less than three clear days before the day on which the
summons is returnable.

(2) In like manner a certificate of analysis purporting to be under
the hand of an analyst shall, on production thereof by the defendant,
be sufficient evidence of the facts stated therein unless the prosecutor
requires that the analyst be called as a witness.

(3) A copy of such last-mentioned certificate shall be sent to the
prosecutor at least three clear days before the day fixed for the hearing
of the summons and if it is not so sent the magistrate may adjourn the
hearing on such terms as he may think proper.

23. When a sample has been dealt with in accordance with section
7 the magistrate shall, on the request of either party to such
proceedings and may if he thinks fit without such request, order that
the part of the sample retained by the officer be submitted to another
analyst for analysis.

24. No prosecutor or witness in any prosecution under this
Ordinance shall be compelled to disclose the fact that he received any
information or the nature of such information or the name of any
person who gave such information, and no officer appearing as a
prosecutor or witness shall be compelled to produce any confidential
reports or documents made or received by him in his official capacity or
to make any statement in relation thereto.

25. (1) Where any person is convicted of an offence under this
Ordinance, the magistrate may order that all fees and other expenses
incident to the analysis of any food or drug in respect of which the
conviction is obtained (including an analysis made under section 23)
shall be paid by the person convicted.

(2) All such fees and expenses shall be recoverable in the same
nianner as a fine is recoverable.
8 of 1935. 47 of 1947. 22 of 1950. Short title. Interpretation. 47 of 1947, s.2. [s. 2 cont.] 47 of 1947, s.2. Regulations. Power of officers to enter, etc. Power to demand, select and take samples. [s. 5 cont.] Any person may have sample analysed. Samples how taken. Certificate of analyst. Power to call for information. Offences. [s. 10 cont.] 22 of 1950, Schedule. Interference with official marks. 22 of 1950, Schedule. General penalty. 22 of 1950, Schedule. Forefeiture of food or drug upon conviction. Notification of conviction in newspapers. Adulteration. Liability of importer or manufacturer. Sale by agent or servant. Presumption as to sale for human consumption or use. Proceedings for offences. No defence that offence not wilfully committed. Reliance on written warranty a good defence. Analyst's certificate to be prima facie evidence. [s. 22 cont.] Magistrate may order independent analysis. Non-disclosure of information. Recovery of fees and other expenses incidental to prosecution.

8 of 1935. 47 of 1947. 22 of 1950. Short title. Interpretation. 47 of 1947, s.2. [s. 2 cont.] 47 of 1947, s.2. Regulations. Power of officers to enter, etc. Power to demand, select and take samples. [s. 5 cont.] Any person may have sample analysed. Samples how taken. Certificate of analyst. Power to call for information. Offences. [s. 10 cont.] 22 of 1950, Schedule. Interference with official marks. 22 of 1950, Schedule. General penalty. 22 of 1950, Schedule. Forefeiture of food or drug upon conviction. Notification of conviction in newspapers. Adulteration. Liability of importer or manufacturer. Sale by agent or servant. Presumption as to sale for human consumption or use. Proceedings for offences. No defence that offence not wilfully committed. Reliance on written warranty a good defence. Analyst's certificate to be prima facie evidence. [s. 22 cont.] Magistrate may order independent analysis. Non-disclosure of information. Recovery of fees and other expenses incidental to prosecution.

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