Sale of Food Law

01( Food [AW r CAP. 136] salt 'J Section I. Short title. 2. Interpretation. CHAPTER136 SALE OF FOOD LAW Arrangement of Sections 3. Prohibition of the sale of articles of food not of the proper nature, substance and quality. 4. Provision for the sale of compounded articles of food. 5. Protection from offences by giving of label. 6. Prohibition of the abstraction of any part of an article of food before sale without notice. 7. Appointment of analysts. 8. Purchaser may have food analysed. 9. Officers named may procure sample of food to be analysed. 10. Provision for dealing with the sample when purchased. 11. Provision when the sample is not divided. 12. Person refusing to sell any article to any officer liabie to a penalty. 13. Form of the certificate. 14. Proceedings against offenders. 15. Analyst's certificate to be prima facie evidence. 16. Defendant in any prosecution to prove that he is protected by exception or provision. 17. Defendant to be discharged if he proves that he bought the article in same state as sold and with a written warranty. 18. (a) Misapplication of warranty. (b) False warranty. ( c) False label. 19. Proceedings and contracts not to be affected. 20. Certificate of analyst to be evidence in proceedings for offences under section 243 of the Criminal Code . • 2561 2562 CHAPTER136 SALE OF FOOD LAW A Law to make Provision for the Sale of Food and Drink in a sb~ ~ Short title. Interpretation. Prohibition of the sale of articles of food not of the proper nature, substance and quality. 1. 2. 3, Prohibition of the 4. sale of compounded articles of food. &.a.it This Law may be cited as the Sale of Food Law. In this Law: "analyst" includes an analyst appointed by the Commissio • 1 • h • fth ner under section 7 and any ana yst m t e service o e Government· "food" includes any article used for food or drink by man other ' than drugs and water and aerated mineral waters. No person shall sell, to ·the prejudice of the purchaser, any article of food which is not of the nature1 substance and quality of the article demanded by such purchaser. Penalty: a fine of five thousand naira: Provided that an offence shall not be deemed to be committed under this section in the following cases: (a) (b) (c) where any matter or ingredient not injurious to health has been added to the article of food bec·ause the same is required for the production or preparation thereof as an article of commerce, in a state fit for carriage or consumption· and not fraudulently to increase the bulk, weight or measure of the food, or conceal the inferior quality thereof; where the article of food is the subject of a patent in force, and is supplied in the state required by the specification of the patent; where the food is unavoidably mixed with some extraneous matter in the process of collection or preparation. No person shall sell any compound article of food which is not composed of ingredients in accordance with the demand of the purchaser. . , 1 l ~: :~ ~ .v' · 01r Food Law [CAP. 136] Sale 'J 2563· 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 . 10 Penalty: a fine of five thousand naira No person shall be guilty of an offence under section 3 or 4 in respect of the sale of an article of food mixed with any matter or ingredient not injurious to health, and not intended fraudulently to increase its bulk, weight or measure, or conceal its inferior quality, if at the time of delivering such article he shall supply to the person receiving the same a notice, by a label distinctly and legibly written or printed on or with the article, to the effect that the same is mixed. No person shall, with the intent that the same may be sold in its altered state without notice, abstract from an article of food any part of it so as to affect injuriously its quality, substance or nature, and no person shall sell any article so altered without making disclosure of the alterations. Penalty: a fine of five thousand naira. The Commissioner may appoint analysts of all articles of food . Any vendor or purchaser of an article of food in any place where there is any analyst appointed under this Law may on payment of a stim of five hundred naira, have such article analysed by such analyst, and may receive from him a certificate of the result of his analysis. Protection from offences by giving of label. Prohibition of the abstraction of any part of an article of food before sale without notice. Appointment of analysts. Purchaser may have;; foop analysed. Any customs or medical officer or sanitary inspector or any police officer of or above the rank of inspector or any police officer or other person acting on the instruction of a police officer of or above the rank of inspector may procure any sample of any article of food, and if he suspect the same to have b een sold to him contrary to any provision of this Law, shall submit the same to be analysed by an analyst, and such analyst shall, with all convenient . speed, analyse the same and give a certificate to such officer, wherein he shall specify the result of the analysis . Officers named may procure sample of food to be analysed. (1) The person purchasing any article of food with the intention of submitting the same to analysis shall, after the purchase shall have been completed, forthwith notify to the seller or his agent selling the article his intention to have the same analysed by an analyst, and shall offer to divide Provision for dealing with the sample when purchased. 2564 Provision when the sample is not divided. Pawn refusing to sell any article to any officer liable LO a penalty. Form of the certificate. 11. 12. 13 . Proceedings 14. against offenders. Sale Of Food I..aw [C . -i\\> I • 3~, (2) the article into three parts to be then and there sep• .. d each part to be marked and scaled or fastenectaiatcu, an . . . . . . 1.1p i such manner as its nature will permit, and shall if req . n to do so proceed accordingly, and shall deliver one aufircu ' . lhe parts to the seller or his a gent. . He shall afterwards retam one of the said parts for fut . h. d • f h d Ute comparison, and · submit the t ir part, 1 e eems it righ, to have the article analysed, to the analyst. If the seller or his agent does not accept the offer of the purchaser to divide the article purchased in his presence, the analyst receiving the article for analysis shall divide the same into two parts, and shall sea\ or fasten up one of those parts, and shall cause it to be delivered, either upon receipt of the sample or when he supplies his certificate, to the purchaser, who shall retain the same for production in case proceedings shall afterwards be taken in the matter. (1) (2) (3) If any of the officers or persons mentioned in section 9 shall apply to purchase any article of food exposed for sale or on sale on any premises or in any shop or store, and shall tender the price for the quantity which he shall require for the purpose of analysis, not being more than shall be reasonably requisite, and the person exposing the same for sale shall refuse to sell the same to such officer or person as aforesaid, such person refusing shall be liable to a fine of two thousand five hundred naira. All intoxicating liquor in or on any premises licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquor shall be deemed to be exposed for sale unless and until the contrary is proved. Any person licensed to sell intoxicating liquor by wholcsa\~ may sell to any of the persons mentioned in section 9 the quantity of liquor required by him for analysis though such quantity be less than two gallons. The certificate of the analyst shall be in the form set forth in the Schedule, or to the I ikc effect. ~hen t?e an~l~st having analysed any article of food shall have given his certificate of the result, from which it may appear that an (C l: t '~ " I Sale Of Food I.Aw [CAP. 136] 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. offence against some one of the provis ions of this Law has been committed, the person causing the analysis to be m~de ~ay ta~e proceedings against the offender before a Court havmg ~unsd1ct10n m the place where the article- sold was actually dehvered to the purchaser. At the hearing in such proceedings, the production of the certificate of the analyst shall be · suffi~ient evidence of the facts therein stated, unless the defendant shall require that the analyst shall be called as a witness, and the parts of the article retained by the person who purchased the article shall be produced. In any prosecution under this Law, where the fact of an article of food having been sold in a inixed state has been proved, if the defendant shall desire to rely upon any exceptioh or provision contained in this ·law, it shall be incumbent upon him to prove the facts required to bring the sale within such exception or provision. If the defendant in any prosecution under this Law prove to the satisfaction of the co~rt that he had purchased within Nigeria the article in question as the same in nature, substance and quality as that demanded of him by the prosecutor, and with a written warranty to that effect, that he had no reason to believe at the time when he sold it that the article was otherwise, and that he sold it in the same state as when he purchased it, he shall be discharged from the prosecution, but shall be liable to pay the costs incurred by the prosecutor, unless he shall have given due notice to him that he will rely on the above defence. • Any person who: (a) (b) (c) wilfully applies to an article of food, in any proceedings under this Law, a certificate of warranty given in of warranty relation to any other article; gives a false warranty •in writing to any purchaser in respect of an article of food sold by him as principal or agent; or wilfully gives a label with any article sold by him which falsely describes the article sold; shall be liable to a fine of five thousand naira. N th· • 0 . mg m this Law contained shall take away any other remedy agamst any offender under this Law or in any way interfere with contracts and bargains between affected individuals and the rights and remedies belonging thereto: ' • 2565 Analyst's certificate to be prima facic evidence. Defendant in any prosecution to prove facts of exception. Defendant to be discharged if he proves that he bought the article in same slat!! as sold and with a • written warranty. Mis- application of warranty. False warranty. False label. Proceedings and contracts not to be affected. 2566 Sale Of Food Law [C i\Jl. l~I Provided that in any action brought by any person for a b contract on the sale of any art icle of f~od such person ma/:ach or alone or in addition to. any ~ther damages recoverable by h~~ov~r amount of any penalty 111 which he may have been convicted 1~ . .d b h. und this Law together with the costs pa1 Y 1m upon such conv· . er ' . . . . lct1on and those incurred by ·h1m m and about h1~ ~ef ence thereto, ir • Prove that the article the subject of such conv1ct10n was sold to h. he 1rn a, and for an article of the ~ame nature, substance a~? quality as that which was demanded of him, and that he purchased 1t not knowin . · d ld • • h • g11 to be other.wise, and afterw.ar s so 1.t m t .e same state m which ~ purchased 1t; the defendant m such act10n bemg nevertheless at Iibenv to prove that the conviction was wrongful, or that the amount of cos~ awarded or claimed was unreasonable. • Certificate of 20. In any proceedings for an offence under section 243 of the Criminal Code a certificate in the form in the Schedule to the like effect given by the analyst who has analysed the article of food in relation to which such proceedings are taken may· be produced and shall be sufficient evidence of the facts therein stated, unless the defendant shall require that the analyst be called as a witness, provided that the procedure prescribed in section l O or l l , as the case may require, has been followed and the parts of the article retained by the person who has caused the article to be analysed are produced before the court. analyst to be evidence in ptocccdings for offences under section 243 of the Criminal Code. (Cap. 30). Sections 13 and 20. To SCHEDULE THE SALE OF FOOD LAW (Ebonyi State of Nigeria) Form of Certificate I, the undersigned,· public analyst for the .... ............. ...... ...... ............... .. .. ...... , do hereb) .. certi fy that I received on the .. ... ... .. .-.. .......... day of .. ...... ... ..... .. ..... . , 20 .. .. .. , from ......... ................... .. ...... , a sample of ...... ...... .... .. ...... ... ...... , for analysis (which then weighed ...... ........ ........... . ...... ...... . ), and have analysed till'. same, and declare the result of my analysis to be as follows: ! am of opinion that the same is a sample· of genuine .. ............. .. ......... ........ .. or I a~ of opinion that the said sample contained the parts as under. or the perccnrngc of foreign ingredients as fo llows:-(here state observations). • As witness my hand this .. ........... .... .. day of.. .............. ... .... , 20 ... ...... ... ........ .. (Signed) ... .. .... .... .. ........ .. .. .. .... ....... .. , .. SUBSIDIARY LEGISLi,\ TlON (No subsidiary legislation) *· ·. ,,.,. .. ){· ; :,