Food (Control of Quality) (Food Labelling) Regulations, 1989

Jurisdiction: Tanzania
Citation: Government Notice 228 of 1989
Primary work: Food (Control of Quality) Act
Date: 31 July 2002
Language: English
Type: Legislation
Download: Download PDF (225.0 KB)

Tanzania

Food (Control of Quality) Act

Food (Control of Quality) (Food Labelling) Regulations, 1989

Government Notice 228 of 1989

Published in Tanzania Government Gazette
Commenced on 1 August 1990
[This is the version of this document at 31 July 2002.]
[Note: This legislation has been thoroughly revised and consolidated under the supervision of the Attorney General's Office, in compliance with the Laws Revision Act No. 7 of 1994, the Revised Laws and Annual Revision Act (Chapter 356 (R.L.)), and the Interpretation of Laws and General Clauses Act No. 30 of 1972. This version is up-to-date as at 31st July 2002.]

[G.N.s. Nos. 228 of 1989; 349 of 1990; 369 of 1998]

1. Short title

These Regulations may be cited as the Food (Control of Quality) (Food Labelling) Regulations.

2. Application and scope

These Regulations shall apply to all areas in which the Act applies and shall affect all types of foods whether locally manufactured or imported in the country.

3. Interpretation

In these Regulations unless the context otherwise requires—"close proximity" means immediately adjacent to the common name without any intervening printed, written or graphic matter;"Commission" means the National Food Control Commission;"common name" means any name in Kiswahili or English by which any food is generally known;"ingredient" means any substance like food addictive used in the manufacture or preparation of food;"label" means any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, endorsed or impressed on or attached to a container of any food;"Minister" means the Minister responsible for health matters;"parts per million" means parts per million by weight and may be symbolised as ppm; and"per centum" means per centum by weight unless otherwise stated and may be symbolised as %.

4. Sale of unlabelled food prohibited

No person shall sell a manufactured, processed, prepacked or repacked food unless a label has been affixed or applied to that food.

5. Declarations to be included on food labels

The label applied to a food shall carry—

(a)on the main panel—

(i)the brand or trade name of that food;

(ii)the common name of the food;

(iii)in close proximity to the common name a correct declaration of the net contents in terms of weight, volume or number in accordance with the usual practices, in describing the food;

(iv)in the case of imitated or substituted food items, explicitly written immediately adjacent and before the common name, words "imitated" or "substituted"; and

(v)date of manufacture and the expiry date or end of shelf life;

(b)grouped together on any panel—

(i)a declaration of permitted food colour added to the food;

(ii)a declaration by name of any preservative used in the food;

(iii)a declaration of any artificial or imitation flavouring preparation added to the food;

(iv)in the case of a food consisting of more than one ingredient, a complete list of their acceptable names in descending order of their proportions unless the quantity of each ingredient is stated in terms of percentages or proportionate compositions; and

(v)any other statement required under the provisions of these Regulations to be declared on the label;

(c)on any panel and of adequate size explicitly written, a declaration for addition or abstraction of any food constituent; and

(d)on any panel the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, processor or distributor of the food.

6. Information on the label

Any statement, information, or declaration that is required by any regulation made under these Regulations to appear on the label of any food shall be in Swahili or English.

7. Information to be prominently displayed and readily discernible

Any information appearing on a label of any food substance shall be—

(a)clearly and prominently displayed on the label;

(b)readily discernible to the purchaser or consumer under the customary conditions of purchase and use; and

(c)distinctly and legibly printed to state whether or not there has been addition or abstraction of any substance to this food or the food has been repacked.

8. Labelling information not to appear at the bottom of a container

Notwithstanding the provisions of Regulation 4 of these Regulations, the information required to appear on the label shall not be placed at the bottom of any food container.

9. Misleading grade and pictorial information prohibited

Grade designation and pictorial information on the label shall be relevant to the food substance, readily understood and not misleading, deceptive or falsely describing a food.

10. Label declaration for irradiated foods

Any food which has been treated with ionising radiation shall be so designated on the label.

11. Components of food ingredients

Where an ingredient of a food has more than one component, the name of all the components shall be included in the list of ingredients.

12. Country of origin of food

(1)Any imported food shall bear a label on its container declaring the country of origin of the imported food.

(2)Where a food undergoes processing in a second country and the processing changes its nature, the country in which the processing was done shall, for the purpose of subregulation (1) of this regulation be considered to be the country of origin.

13. Restriction on reference to the Act on the label or advertisement

No direct or indirect references to the Act or to these Regulations or to the Commission shall be made on any label of, or in any advertisement for, food.

14. Label declaration of artificial sweetener

A food containing saccharin or its salts shall carry on the label a statement to the effect that it contains a non-nutritive artificial sweetener by naming the synthetic sweetener.

15. Penalty

Any person who—

(a)contravenes or fails to comply with these Regulations; or

(b)directly or indirectly aids another person in committing an offence under these Regulations,

commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both that fine and imprisonment.

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History of this document

31 July 2002 this version

Consolidation

01 August 1990

Commenced