Food Safety Act 1990: what it says, who it covers and how it is enforced

The Food Safety Act 1990 at a glance

• It covers England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland has the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991.
• Its three main offences are making food harmful to health (s7), selling food that isn't what the buyer asked for (s14), and false or misleading labelling or presentation (s15).
• Directors and managers can be convicted personally, and most prosecutions must start within three years.
• Magistrates in England and Wales can now impose unlimited fines for the main offences.
• Your main protection is the due diligence defence, and it only works if you have records.

What is the Food Safety Act 1990?

The Food Safety Act 1990 is an Act of Parliament that received Royal Assent on 29 June 1990 (legislation.gov.uk). Government describes it as the framework for all food legislation in England, Wales and Scotland (gov.uk).

It creates the main criminal offences about food, gives councils and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) their enforcement powers, and lets ministers make the detailed regulations where most day-to-day food rules now live.

The Act contains no hygiene rules. The FSA's guide to the Act says it "does not in itself cover hygiene", which is handled by separate regulations made using its powers (FSA guide, para 23). So if someone tells you "the Food Safety Act says fridges must be at 8°C", they have the wrong law.

The Act's definition of "food" follows the General Food Law, Regulation (EC) 178/2002 (section 1). Food includes drink, chewing gum and water added during preparation, and drinking water from the point of compliance, generally the tap. It does not include animal feed, medicines, cosmetics or tobacco (FSA guide, paras 20 to 21).

Why was the Food Safety Act 1990 introduced?

The Bill arrived after a run of food scares in the late 1980s. At its Lords second reading on 5 December 1989, Baroness Stedman spoke of "a large number of scares about salmonella... and about listeria and botulism", and said notified cases of food poisoning had risen from 12,000 in 1981 to 41,000 in 1988. Another peer said most recent food poisoning incidents "have been related to animal sources such as salmonella in eggs" (Hansard, HL Deb 5 December 1989).

Ministers introduced the Bill on 22 November 1989 (Hansard). Its long title says it replaced the Food Act 1984 (except Parts III and V) and the Food and Drugs (Scotland) Act 1956, along with "certain other enactments relating to food" (legislation.gov.uk). The old warranty defence in section 102 of the 1984 Act went, replaced by the due diligence defence.

The Food Standards Act 1999 later created the FSA, which now oversees how councils enforce the 1990 Act.

Who does the Food Safety Act 1990 apply to?

Anyone running a food business, and the definition is wide. Section 1 says a "business" includes a canteen, club, school, hospital or institution, whether or not it makes a profit. "Premises" includes any place, vehicle, stall or moveable structure. The Act covers the whole chain, from growing to selling (FSA guide, para 15).

New food businesses must also register with their council at least 28 days before trading. Registration is free and can't be refused (gov.uk).

What are the main offences under the Food Safety Act 1990?

The FSA names three (FSA guide, para 28).

1. Rendering food injurious to health (section 7). You commit this if you make food harmful by adding something, using something as an ingredient, taking something out, or putting it through any other process, "with intent that it shall be sold for human consumption". The only intent needed is the intent to sell the food for people to eat. You don't have to mean any harm, and the FSA says the offence applies "whether the act is deliberate or not", subject to the due diligence defence (paras 30 to 31).

2. Selling food not of the nature, substance or quality demanded (section 14). The FSA's examples (para 33): haddock sold as cod (nature), an insect in the food (substance), a stale cake (quality). The buyer must be prejudiced, but it is no defence that they bought the food to have it tested.

3. Falsely describing or presenting food (section 15). This covers labels, adverts and display. A label can list the ingredients accurately and still break the law if the overall impression misleads, such as a non-cream product sold in cream-style cartons next to the real thing (para 35).

There are also offences for obstructing an officer (s33), ignoring an improvement notice (s10) and breaking an emergency prohibition or emergency control order (s12, s13).

What happened to section 8? Older guides list "selling food not complying with food safety requirements" under section 8. That offence was repealed. Selling unsafe food is now an offence under the General Food Regulations 2004, which enforce Article 14 of Regulation 178/2002 (section 8 as it stands; FSA guide, para 29).

Who is personally liable under the Food Safety Act 1990?

Whoever commits the offence, whether that's the company, a manager or a member of staff. Three sections widen that.

Section 36 deals with companies. If a company's offence happened "with the consent or connivance of", or is "attributable to any neglect on the part of", a director, manager, secretary or similar officer, that person is guilty too. In Barnsley in September 2026, alongside the company's own fine, the two directors of LSJ Supermarket Ltd were fined personally after admitting breaches of the Act: Ravinder Johal £861 (£1,576 with costs and surcharge) and Lakhvinder Johal £84 (£489 in total) (Barnsley Council). The council's release doesn't name the sections charged.

Section 20 catches people further up the chain. If your offence was caused by someone else, such as a supplier, they can be prosecuted whether or not you are.

Section 21 runs the other way. Your defence has to cover offences "by a person under [your] control", so you answer for what your staff do unless you can show reasonable precautions.

Who enforces the Food Safety Act 1990, and what can officers do?

Enforcement sits with "food authorities", which are the local councils, with port health authorities at ports (section 5; section 6). Environmental health officers deal with hygiene, contamination and unsafe food, and trading standards officers deal with labelling, composition and claims (FSA guide, paras 56 to 57).

The FSA oversees councils through statutory codes of practice under section 40. Councils must have regard to them, and the FSA can direct a council to comply. They are published as the Food and Feed Codes of Practice, with a Food Law Code of Practice for each of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, the national role sits with Food Standards Scotland, set up by the Food (Scotland) Act 2015.

Most improvement notices and prohibition orders you'll meet in a kitchen are issued under hygiene law, not the Act. In England, councils serve hygiene improvement notices under regulation 6 and courts make hygiene prohibition orders under regulation 7 of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013. The FSA guide says this happens "in almost all cases" (para 78). The Act's own prohibition order power in section 11 still exists.

Your inspection result also feeds your food hygiene rating (see the nations table below for display rules).

Can you appeal a decision under the Food Safety Act 1990?

Yes, and the deadlines are short.

The council's written decision must tell you about the right of appeal and the deadline (s37(6)). On an improvement notice appeal, the court can cancel the notice, confirm it or change it, and days while the appeal is pending don't count towards the time you were given to comply (s39).

Once you've fixed the problem behind an emergency prohibition, you can ask for a certificate lifting it. The council must decide within 14 days and must issue the certificate within 3 days of being satisfied (s12(8) and (9)).

If a council serves an emergency prohibition notice and then doesn't apply to court within 3 days, or the court isn't satisfied that the health risk existed when the notice was served, the council must compensate you for the loss caused by complying. Disputes over compensation go to arbitration (s12(10)).

What must you do if food has to be withdrawn or recalled?

These duties come from Article 19 of Regulation 178/2002, which government's General food law overview lists among the core requirements:

• If you have reason to believe food you produced, imported or distributed is unsafe and has left your control, start withdrawing it immediately and tell your council.
• If it may have reached consumers, tell them accurately why it is being withdrawn and, where other measures aren't enough, recall it.
• Retailers and distributors must withdraw it within the limits of their own activities and pass on tracing information.
• Tell the authorities straight away if food you've supplied may be injurious to health, and say what you've done about it.

The FSA then uses Food Alerts to tell councils and the public (FSA guide, paras 85 to 86). A Food Alert for Information tells councils that a company has withdrawn or recalled a product and they need take no further action. A Food Alert for Action goes out when a product must come off the market quickly because it may pose an imminent risk to health, and sets out what councils must do.

What are the penalties under the Food Safety Act 1990?

The maximums are in section 35:

Before 12 March 2015, magistrates could fine up to £20,000 for section 7 and 14 offences and up to the statutory maximum for the rest. Section 85 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 removed caps of £5,000 or more, and SI 2015/664 applied that to the Act from 12 March 2015. Scotland's caps in section 35(3) still stand. So the "£20,000" and "£5,000" figures you'll still see in training material, including the FSA's own 2009 guide, are out of date for England and Wales.

How do courts work out the fine?

The Sentencing Council's guideline for organisations sentenced for breaching food safety and food hygiene regulations has applied in England and Wales since 1 February 2016. It lists offences under regulation 19(1) of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, regulation 17(1) of the Food Hygiene (Wales) Regulations 2006 and regulation 4 of the General Food Regulations 2004. Sections 7, 14 and 15 of the Act aren't on that list. It still matters, because hygiene failures are usually charged under those regulations, often alongside Food Safety Act charges.

Starting points by turnover, culpability and harm:

"High" culpability includes ignoring concerns raised by regulators or staff, or letting breaches continue for a long time. "Low" covers cases where significant efforts were made to secure food safety but fell short on this occasion. That's where good records earn their keep.

What fines have businesses actually paid?

Three council prosecutions under the Food Safety Act 1990. The councils' releases name the Act but not the specific sections charged.

• LSJ Supermarket Ltd, Barnsley (September 2026). Prepacked food was on sale without ingredients, nutrition and allergen information in English, after improvement notices had told the business to fix it. The company was fined £25,000, with £1,675 costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge. Its directors' personal fines are in the liability section above (Barnsley Council).
• Amore Ristorante Ltd, Berwick-upon-Tweed (December 2025). A family complained after their child, who has a milk allergy, had an allergic reaction to food from the restaurant even though the parents had told staff about the allergy. A trading standards officer then ordered garlic bread, said she had a milk allergy and asked for it without milk. Butter had been used. The public analyst found the food contained milk, making it "unsafe and considered injurious to the health of a person with an allergy to milk", and that it was not what the customer had asked for. The company pleaded guilty to offences under the Act and the 2013 hygiene regulations and was fined £4,000, reduced to £1,600 for mitigation and an early plea, plus £2,140.44 costs (Northumberland County Council).
• Empyrean Enterprises Ltd, Rugby (October 2016). Hygiene problems returned a year after earlier improvement notices were complied with. The directors pleaded guilty to seven offences under the Act, and the company was fined £1,000 per offence, £7,000 in total, plus £3,160 costs and a £100 victim surcharge (Rugby Borough Council).

Is there a time limit for prosecution?

Yes. Under section 34, a prosecution for an offence punishable under section 35(2), which covers the main offences, can't start more than three years after the offence or more than one year after the prosecutor discovered it, whichever comes first. If a council finds out about something two and a half years after it happened, it has six months left.

What is the due diligence defence?

Section 21 makes it a defence to prove you "took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence" to avoid the offence. From the FSA guide (paras 46 to 51):

• You carry the burden, but only on the balance of probabilities.
• "Reasonable" depends on your size. A small café isn't expected to run a supermarket's checks.
• If you blame someone else, like a supplier, you must identify them to the prosecution at least 7 days before the hearing.
• Retailers who didn't make or import the food get an easier route for section 14 and 15 offences. For own-label products they need reasonable checks, or reasonable reliance on the supplier's checks. For branded goods they don't need their own checks at all.

Section 22 gives a narrower defence to businesses whose job is publishing adverts, if they received the advert in the ordinary course of business and had no reason to suspect it broke the law.

What evidence builds the defence. The law doesn't list documents. In a food business it usually means:

• A written food safety management system based on HACCP, or the FSA's Safer Food, Better Business pack.
• Records that show it was followed: fridge temperature checks, cooked food temperature checks, delivery checks, cleaning sign-offs.
• Approved supplier details and specifications, and records of approved suppliers training.
• Training records (see the next section).
• What you did when something went wrong: corrective actions, withdrawn stock, complaints followed up.

A plan with no records behind it won't prove much. Records nobody can find on the day are about as useful.

Does the Food Safety Act 1990 require staff training?

Not directly. The duty comes from hygiene law: Annex II, Chapter XII of Regulation 852/2004 requires that "food handlers are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity", and that whoever runs your HACCP-based procedures has had adequate HACCP training. Each nation's hygiene regulations enforce it.

The Act connects to training in two ways. Section 23 lets councils run food hygiene training courses. And because the section 21 defence covers people "under [your] control", a court will want to know how the person who made the mistake was trained and supervised. A dated training record is part of your defence under the Act even though the duty sits elsewhere.

How does the Food Safety Act 1990 fit with other food law?

The General Food Law, Regulation (EC) 178/2002, is now assimilated law in Great Britain. It sets the rules on unsafe food (Article 14), misleading presentation (Article 16), traceability (Article 18) and withdrawal and recall (Article 19). The General Food Regulations 2004 make breaking those rules a criminal offence. In Northern Ireland, under the Windsor Framework, EU food law continues to apply (gov.uk).

Hygiene rules come from Regulation 852/2004, enforced through each nation's regulations (see the table below).

Labelling is governed by Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 on food information to consumers, which sets what must appear on a label, including the 14 allergens. In England it is enforced through the Food Information Regulations 2014. Natasha's Law added full ingredient and allergen labelling for food prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) from 1 October 2021, through the Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2019 and matching rules in Wales and Northern Ireland (gov.uk PPDS guidance) and Scotland (Food Standards Scotland). Section 15 of the Act still applies on top: a label can tick every box in these rules and still mislead.

Does the Food Safety Act 1990 apply across the whole UK?

No. Section 60(5) says the Act, apart from a few sections, does not extend to Northern Ireland.

Scotland's summary fine caps were not removed by the 2015 change, and the Sentencing Council guideline applies only to courts in England and Wales.

Has the Food Safety Act 1990 changed since Brexit?

The Act itself was not replaced. What changed is the EU law it points to. Regulation 178/2002, which defines "food" for the Act and sets the unsafe-food rule, stayed on the statute book in Great Britain and is now assimilated law, amended for GB (the GB text of Article 14).

Always check the latest version on legislation.gov.uk. The "as enacted" 1990 text still shows section 8 and the £20,000 cap.

Which law applies? A problem-by-problem table

Almost every row ends the same way: what you can prove depends on records you kept beforehand.

What are the common myths about the Food Safety Act 1990?

The quickest check on whether you're on the right side of the Act is that last row. Pick a random day from last month and ask whether you could show an officer what was checked, by whom, and what happened when something was out of range. If you use Pilla for your checks, that history is already stored by date and person. If you use paper, make sure it's filed where you can find it.

Food Safety Act 1990 FAQs

Is the Food Safety Act 1990 the same as the Food Standards Act 1999?

No. The 1990 Act sets food offences and enforcement powers, while the 1999 Act created the Food Standards Agency.

Do some food businesses need approval rather than registration?

Yes. Slaughterhouses, cutting plants and some other meat, fish, egg and dairy establishments need approval before trading, and trading without it is an offence.

Does EU food law still apply in Northern Ireland?

Yes, under the Windsor Framework, while assimilated law applies only in Great Britain (gov.uk).