Come Into Force 1-10-1985. P.U. (B) 446
1
Food Act 1983
An act to protect the public against health hazards and fraud in the preparation, sale and use of food, and for matters incidental thereto or connected therewith.
[Come into force 1-10-1985. P.U. (B) 446]
BE IT ENACTED by the Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Arrangement of Sections:
PART I
Section
PRELIMINARY
1.Short title, application and commencement.
2.Interpretation.
PART II
ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT
3.Appointment of analysts and authorised officers.
4.Powers of authorised officers.
5.Power to take sample.
6.Procedure for taking sample.
7.Certificate for analyst.
8.Power to call for information.
9.Power of the Director General to obtain particulars of certain food ingredients.
10.Director may order premises or appliances be put into clean and sanitary condition.
11.Closure of insanitary premises.
12.Conviction published in newspapers.
PART III
OFFENCES AND EVIDENCE
13.Adulteration.
14.Prohibition against the sale of food not of the nature, substance or quality demanded.
15.Labelling, etc., not complying with standard of food.
16.False labelling, etc.
17.Advertisement.
18.Power of court to order licence to be cancelled and food to be disposed of.
19.Prosecutions.
20.Certificate of analyst to be prima facie evidence.
21.Court may order independent analysis.
22.Presumption of sale, etc.
23.No defence that offence not wilfully committed.
24.Sales, etc., by agent or servant.
25.Presumption for human consumption.
26.Non-disclosure of information.
27.Manufacturing process and trade secret.
28.Liability of importer, manufacturer or packer.
PART IV
IMPORTATION, WARRANTY AND DEFENCES
29.Importation.
30.Warranty.
31.Reliance on written warranty a good defence.
32.Penalty for false warranty.
PART V
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
33.Power to compound.
34.Power to make regulations.
35.Repeal and savings.
36.Extended application of Act.
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Section 1 - Short Title, Application and Commencement
(1) This Act may be cited as the Food Act 1983 and shall apply throughout Malaysia.
(2) This Act shall come into force on such date as the Minister may notification in the Gazette appoint and the Minister may appoint different dates for the coming into force of this Act for different States in Malaysia or for different provisions of this Act.
Section 2 - Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -
"advertisement" includes any representation by any means whatsoever for the purposes of promoting directly or indirectly the sale or other disposal of any food;
"analyst" means any analyst appointed under section 3;
"animal" includes any quadruped or bird either domesticated or otherwise, fish, reptile or insect; whole or part of which are used for human consumption;
"appliance" includes the whole or any part of any utensil, machinery, instrument, apparatus, or article used or intended for use, in or for the making, preparing, keeping, selling or supplying of any food;
"approved laboratory" means any laboratory approved by the Minister;
"authorised officer" means any medical officer of health or any health inspector of the Ministry of Health or of any local. authority, or any suitably qualified person, appointed by the Minister to be an authorised officer under section 3;
"Director" means the Director of Health Services of the Ministry of Health;
"Director General" means the Director General of Health of the Ministry of Health;
"entertainment" includes any social or other form of gathering, amusement, festival, exhibition, performance, game, competition, sport or trial. of skill;
"food" includes every article manufactured, sold or represented for use as food or drink for human consumption or which enters into or is used in the composition, preparation, preservation, of any food or drink and includes confectionery, chewing substances and any ingredient of such food, drink, confectionery or chewing substances;
"import" means to bring or cause to be brought into Malaysia by land, water or air for the purpose of sale from any place outside Malaysia but does not include the bringing into Malaysia of any food which it is proved is intended to be taken out of Malaysia on the same vehicle, vessel, or aircraft on which such food was brought into Malaysia without any transhipment or landing;
"importer" includes any person who, whether as owner, consignor, consignee, agent or broker, is in possession of, or is otherwise entitled to the custody or control, of the imported food;
"label" includes any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, painted, embossed or impressed on, or attached to or included in, belonging to, or accompanying any food;
"medical examination" includes physical, microbiological, chemical, serological. and radiological examination, and such examination may include the taking of specimen of any body fluid, tissue or waste product for examination or analysis;
"package" includes anything in which or any means by which food is wholly or partly cased, covered, enclosed, contained, placed or otherwise packed in any way whatsoever and includes any basket, pail, tray or receptacle of any kind whether opened or closed;
"premises" includes -
(a) any building or tent or any other structure, permanent or otherwise together with the land on which the building, tent or other structure is situated and any adjoining land used in connection therewith and any vehicle, conveyance, vessel or aircraft; and
(b) for the purposes of section 4 any street, open space or place of public resort or bicycle or any vehicle used for or in connection with the preparation, preservation, packaging, storage, conveyance, distribution or sale of any food;
"preparation" includes manufacture, processing and any form of treatment;
"seal" includes the detention. in bulk. of any food, a sample of which has been taken for analysis, pending the result of the analysis;
"sell" includes offer, keep, expose for sale, transmit, convey, deliver or prepare for sale or exchange, dispose of for any consideration whatsoever, or transmit, convey or deliver in pursuance of such sale, exchange, or disposal;
"vegetable substance" means any plant or part of a plant, and includes the stern, root, bark, tuber, rhizome, leaf, stalk, inflorescene, bud, shoot, flowers, fruit and seed, or an extract thereof.
PART II
ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT
Section 3 - Appointment of Analysts and Authorised Officers
(1) The Minister may appoint such number of analysts as he may consider necessary for the purposes of this Act and may make regulations concerning their qualifications, conduct and duties, and shall prepare or cause to be prepared a list of appointed analysts and revise it as the circumstances may require.
(2) The Minister may appoint such number of authorised officers as he may consider necessary for the purpose of this Act and every authorised officer shall be issued with a Certificate of Authorisation which certificate shall in any legal proceedings under this Act be admissible in evidence and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts so certified.
(3) The Minister may, in relation to any matter which appears to him to affect the general interests of the consumer, authorise any public officer to procure for analysis samples of any food, and thereupon that officer shall have all the powers of an authorised officer under this Act, and this Act shall apply as if the officer was an authorised officer.
(4) The analysts and authorised officers appointed under this section shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of the Penal Code.
Section 4 - Power of Authorised Officer
(1) An authorised officer may, at any hour reasonable for the proper and better performance of his duty-
(a) enter any premises where he believes any food to which this Act applies is prepared, preserved, packaged, stored, conveyed, distributed or sold, examine any such food and take samples thereof, and examine anything that he believes is used, or capable of being used for such preparation, preservation, packaging, storing, conveying, distribution or sale;
(b) stop, search or detain any aircraft, ship or vehicle in which he believes on reasonable grounds that any food to which this Act applies is being conveyed and examine any such food and take samples thereof for the purposes of this Act;
(c) open and examine any package which he believes contains any food to which this Act applies;
(d) examine any books, documents or other records found in any premises mentioned in paragraph (a) that he believes contain any information relevant to the enforcement of this Act with respect to any food to which this Act applies and make copies thereof or take extracts there from;
(e) demand the production of the National Registration Identity Card, the Business Registration Certificate or any other relevant document which the authorised officer may require;
(f) seize and detain for such time as may be necessary any food by means of or in relation to which he believes any provision of this Act has been contravened; or
(g) mark, seal or otherwise secure, weigh, count or measure any food or appliance, the preparation, preservation, packaging, storage, conveyance, distribution or sale of which is or appears to be contrary to this Act.
(2) An authorised officer acting under this section shall, if so required, produce his Certificate of Authorisation.
(3) Any owner, occupier or person in charge of any premises entered by any authorised officer pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection (1), or any person found therein, who does not give to the authorised officer all reasonable assistance in his power or furnish him with all the information as he may reasonably require, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to fine or to both.
(4) Any person who obstructs or impedes any authorised officer in the course of his duty or prevents or attempts to prevent the execution by the authorised officer of his duty commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to fine or to both.
(5) An authorised officer may arrest without warrant any person whom he has reason to believe to have committed an offence under this Act or any regulation made thereunder if the person fails to furnish his name and address or there are reasonable grounds for believing that he has furnished a false name or address or that he is likely to abscond:
Provided that when any person has been arrested as aforesaid he shall thereafter be dealt with as provided by the Criminal Procedure Code.
(6) Any person who knowingly makes any false or misleading statement either verbally or in writing to any officer engaged in carrying out his duty commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to fine or to both.
(7) An authorised officer shall release any food seized by him when he is satisfied that all the provisions of the Act with respect to it have been complied.
(8) Where an authorised officer has seized any food and the owner or the person in whose possession the food was at the time of seizure consents in writing to its destruction, the food may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the authorised officer may direct and if the owner or the person does not consent to the destruction of the food, the authorised officer may apply to a court for the destruction or disposal of the food and the court may make an order as it may deem fit, notwithstanding that the owner or the person has not been convicted of any offence in connection with the food.
(9) Where an authorised officer has seized any food which is perishable in nature and the owner or the person in whose possession the food was at the time of seizure does not consent in writing to its destruction, the responsibility for the proper storage of such food so as to prevent it from deterioration, spoilage, damage or theft, pending judgement by the court, lies with the owner or such person.
(10) Where any food has been seized and detained under paragraph (f) of subsection (1) and the owner thereof has been convicted of an offence the food may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the court may direct.
(11) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section an authorised officer may destroy any food wherever found which is declayed, putrefied or injurious to health or food the importation of which is prohibited or food which is surrendered by the owner for destruction on payment by him of reasonable charges.
(12) Any person who removes, alters or interferes in any way with any food seized or sealed under this Act without the authority of an authorised officer commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or fine or to both.
(13) Any food seized may at the option of an authorised officer be kept or stored in the premises where it was seized or may at the direction of an authorised officer be removed to any other proper place.
(14) An authorised officer may submit any food seized by him or any sample from it or any other sample taken by him to any approved laboratory for analysis or examination.
(15) Any authorised officer may appear in court and conduct any prosecution in respect of any offence against this Act.
Section 5 - Power To Take Sample
(1) On payment or tender to any person selling food or to his agent or servant, of the current market value of the food, any authorised officer may at any place demand and select and take or obtain samples of the food for the purpose of analysis.
(2) An authorised officer may at any place demand and select and take or obtain samples for the purpose of analysis without payment from any manufacturer making food for sale or from any importer of any food or from his agent or servant.
(3) Any such authorised officer may require the person or his agent or servant to show and permit the inspection of the package in which such food is at the time kept and to take therefrom the samples demanded.
(4) Where any food is kept for retail sale in an unopened package, no person shall be required by any authorised officer to sell less than the whole of the contents of such package.
(5) Any person who refuses or neglects to comply with any demand or requisition made by an authorised officer in pursuance of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to fine or to both.
Section 6 - Procedure For Taking Sample
(1) Where it is intended to submit any sample of any food for analysis the authorized officer purchasing or otherwise procuring the sample shall inform the seller or his agent or servant selling the food that he intends to have the sample analysed by any analyst.
(2) The procedure for taking and dealing with the samples shall be as prescribed by regulations.
Section 7 - Certificate of Analyst
(1) The certificate of the analyst shall be in the form as prescribed by regulations.
(2) Where any method of analysis has been prescribed by regulations for the analysis of any food, the analyst shall follow, and in his certificate of analysis declare that he was followed, the prescribed method.
(3) A copy of the result of any analysis of any food procured by authorized officer may be obtained from the analyst by the person from whom the food so analysed was purchased or obtained on payment of such fee as may be prescribed.
(4) No copy of the result of any analysis made under this Act or any reproduction thereof shall be displayed or used as an advertisement and if any person so displays or uses such copy or reproduction he commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to fine or to both.
Section 8 - Power To Call For Information
(1) If any authorized officer is of the opinion that there is reasonable ground for suspecting that any person is in possession of any food or other substance of any appliance for the purpose of or in connection with the preparation, preservation, packaging, storage, conveyance, distribution or sale of food in breach of any of the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder he may require such person to produce for his inspection any book, documents or other records or any other information relating to the reception, possession, purchase, sale or delivery of such food or other substance or any appliance.
(2) Any authorized officer mentioned in subsection (1) may make or cause to be made copies of or extracts from any such book, documents or records, or any other information and such copies or extracts certified as such by such authorized officer shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be true and 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 and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to fine or to both.
(4) Any authorized officer who -
(a) does not maintain the secrecy of all matters which come to his knowledge in the performance of his official duties under this section; or
(b) communicates any such matter to any person whomsoever for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act,