Volume 6: Human Health, 1989-96
Annex 1 to Chapter 4: Unfit meat and human food
Meat (Sterilisation and Staining) Regulations 1982 (the 1982 MSSR)
Enforcement

Enforcement

4.845 The local authority was to enforce and execute the provisions of the Regulations in its district. ¹ The primary means of enforcing the Regulations was provided by powers conferred upon authorised officers under the Food and Drugs Act 1955. An authorised officer (see paragraph 4.764 above) of a council, on producing, if required, authenticated documents showing his authority had a right to enter any premises at all reasonable hours for the purposes of:

1. ascertaining whether there was or had been on, or in connection with, the premises any contravention of the Regulations; and
2. performing the functions of the council under the Regulations. ²

Admission to a private dwelling house was not to be demanded as of right unless 24 hours' notice of the intended entry had been given to the occupier.

4.846 If a JP, on sworn information in writing:

1. was satisfied that there was reasonable ground for entry into any premises for any such purpose set out above; and
2. was also satisfied either:
   1. that admission to the premises had been refused, or a refusal was apprehended and that notice of the intention to apply for a warrant had been given to the occupier; or
   2. that an application for admission, or the giving of such a notice would defeat the object of the entry, or that the case was one of urgency, or that the premises were unoccupied or the occupier was temporarily absent;

he had a power by warrant under his hand to authorise the council by any authorised officer to enter the premises, if need be by force. ³ An authorised officer entering any premises pursuant to either of these provisions had a power to take with him such other persons as may have been necessary, and on leaving unoccupied premises which he had entered by virtue of a warrant, was required to leave those premises as effectively secured against trespassers as he found them. ⁴

4.847 In addition, an authorised officer (see paragraph 4.764 above) of a council, on producing, if required, authenticated documents showing his authority had a right at all reasonable hours to enter any vehicle, stall or place other than premises for any purpose for which he was empowered under section 100. ⁵ In such circumstances the provisions outlined above in relation to entry to premises applied to any vehicle, stall or place other than premises as if a reference to the occupier referred to the person in charge of the vehicle, stall or place other than premises. ⁶

4.848 Under the 1982 MSSR, an authorised officer had, at all reasonable times a power to examine any meat not fit or not intended for human consumption which had been sold, was offered or exposed for sale or was in the possession of, or had been deposited with or consigned to any person for the purpose of sale or preparation for sale. ⁷ The authorised officer had a further power to seize the meat and remove it in order for it to be dealt with by a JP, if it appeared to the authorised officer that the meat was required by the Regulations either:

1. to be sterilised, but it had not been sterilised;
2. to be stained, but it had not been stained;
3. to bear a notice, but it did not bear a notice; or
4. to be accompanied by a movement permit, but it was not.

4.849 Having seized any meat under this power, the officer was required to inform the person in whose possession the meat was found of his intention to have it dealt with by a JP. ⁸ Anyone liable for prosecution under the terms of the Regulations was entitled, if he attended before the JP, to be heard and to call witnesses. ⁹ If it appeared to the JP that the meat brought before him, whether seized under the provisions of this Regulation of not, was meat to which the Regulations applied and was required to be but had not been dealt with in accordance with those Regulations, he was required to condemn it and order it to be destroyed or to be so dealt with. ¹⁰ In the event that a JP refused to condemn any such meat, the council was required to compensate the owner of the meat for any depreciation in its value resulting from its seizure and removal. ¹¹

4.850 The Regulations also provided that if an authorised officer had reason to suspect that any vehicle or container contained any meat to which the Regulations applied and which was intended for sale or was in the course of delivery after sale, then he had a power to examine the contents, and, if necessary, detain the vehicle or container. ¹² In the event that he found any meat which was required to be but was not dealt with in accordance with the Regulations, the authorised officer was able to seize the meat and remove it as set out at paragraph 4.848 above.

4.851 Any person contravening or failing to comply with any provision of the Regulations, or knowingly or recklessly making a false statement or declaration in the Regulations for the movement of meat, was guilty of an offence. This rendered him liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both, and, in the case of continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding £5 for each day during which the offence continued after conviction. ¹³

4.852 All of the above restrictions in the 1982 MSSR were subject to the application of provisions of the Food and Drugs Act 1955 as follows: ¹⁴

1. section 113 provided that a person against whom proceedings were brought was entitled to bring before the Court in proceedings any person to whose act or default he alleged that the contravention of the provisions in question was due and prove that the contravention was due to the act or default of that person;
2. section 115(2) imposed restrictions upon the circumstances in which it was possible for it to be a defence in a set of proceedings under the Act that a warranty had been given that any article or substance could be lawfully sold or dealt with under the name or description or for the purpose under or for which it was sold or dealt with;
3. section 116 set out offences of applying to an article or substance a warranty or certificate of analysis given in relation to another article or substance and of giving of a false warranty in writing, and provisions relating to those offences;
4. section 128 provided that an officer of the council acting in good faith in the execution or purported execution of the Act and within the scope of his employment was not to be held personally liable and that the council had a power to indemnify such an officer against any damages and costs in circumstances where he was not legally entitled to require such an indemnity.

4.853 Table 1 below summarises the principal requirements as to sterilisation and removal of unfit meat under the 1982 MSSR.

Table 1: Meat (Sterilisation & Staining) Regulations 1982: Principal requirements as to sterilisation & removal (excluding poultry and imported meat)