SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS (MILK) ACT, 1935

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS ACTS, 1875 TO 1907, IN RELATION TO MILK AND CERTAIN LACTIC PRODUCTS. [19th February, 1935.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Principal Act” means the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875;

the expression “the Act of 1879” means the Sale of Food and Drugs Act Amendment Act, 1879;

the expression “the Act of 1899” means the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899;

the expression “the Acts” means the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1907;

the expression “local authority” means any local authority authorised to appoint an analyst for the purposes of the Acts;

the word “purveyor” includes a seller whether wholesale or by retail;

the expression “whole milk” means milk from which none of the constituents have been abstracted otherwise than as a result of any cleansing process (including pasteurisation and sterilisation) to which such milk has been subjected.

2 Sale of milk, etc., not of the proper nature, substance and quality.

2.—(1) If on or after the appointed day any person—

• (a) sells as whole milk, any article of food which contains—

• (i) less than the prescribed percentage (if any) of milk-fat; and

• (ii) less than the prescribed percentage (if any) of milk-solids, other than milk-fat; or

• (b) sells as skimmed or separated milk any article of food which contains less than the prescribed percentage (if any) of milk-solids, other than milk-fat; or

• (c) sells as cream any article of food which contains less than the prescribed percentage (if any) of milk-fat; or

• (d) sells as buttermilk any article of food which contains less than the prescribed percentage (if any) of milk solids, other than milk-fat;

such person shall be deemed for the purposes of section 6 of the Principal Act to have sold to the prejudice of the purchaser an article of food which is not of the nature, substance and quality of the article demanded by such purchaser.

• (2) The Minister for Agriculture, after consultation with the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, may by order make regulations fixing any percentage referred to in the immediately preceding sub-section as prescribed, and different percentages of milk-fat may be fixed in relation to whole milk, and cream, and different percentages of milk-solids, other than milk-fat, may be fixed in respect of whole milk, skimmed or separated milk, and buttermilk, and the word “prescribed” in the said sub-section means prescribed by such regulations.

• (3) The Minister for Agriculture, after consultation with the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, may by order fix a day to be the appointed day for the purposes of this section, and the day so appointed shall be the appointed day for those purposes.

• (4) As from the appointed day, section 4 of the Act of 1899, shall be amended by the deletion of the words “genuine milk, cream”, the words “milk (including condensed milk) cream” and the words “milk, cream” now contained therein and the said section shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

• (5) Whenever an article of food is sold as milk without any other description or qualification, such article of food shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have been sold as whole milk.

• (6) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after such regulation is made, and if a resolution annulling such regulation is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after such regulation is so laid before it such regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such regulation.

3 Definition of milk.

3.—For the purposes of sections 3 and 4 of the Act of 1879, section 10 of the Act of 1899, and the subsequent provisions of this Act, the word “milk” shall mean any article of food which is whole milk, skimmed or separated milk, cream or buttermilk.

4 Power incidental to the taking of samples.

4.—Any person authorised by or under the Acts to take a sample of milk may for the purposes of taking such sample open any receptacle containing milk and do any other act which he may deem necessary for the said purposes.

5 Amendment of section 3 of the Act of 1879 and consequential amendment of section 14 of the Act of 1899.

5.—(1) Section 3 of the Act of 1879 as amended by this Act shall, so far as it relates to milk only, be construed and have effect as if—

• (a) the words “take without payment” were substituted for the word “procure” now contained therein;

• (b) the words “at the place of delivery” now contained therein were deleted, and

• (c) the words “in course of transit or delivery” were substituted for the words “in course of delivery” now contained therein.

• (2) Section 14 of the Act of 1899 shall, in so far as it relates to milk, cease to have effect.

6 Amendment of section 10 of the Act of 1899.

6.—Section 10 of the Act of 1899 as amended by this Act shall, so far as it relates to milk, be construed and have effect as if the words “transit or” were inserted before the word “delivery” now contained therein.

7 Disclosure by purveyor of milk of seller's name, etc.

7.—(1) Where a sample of milk is procured under Section 13 of the Principal Act from a purveyor of milk, the person by whom or on whose behalf such sample was procured, may, unless such purveyor is the producer of such milk, serve a notice on such purveyor requiring him to furnish to such person within twenty-four hours after the service of such notice particulars of the following matters, that is to say, the name and address of the seller or consignor from whom such purveyor received such milk, and the time and place of delivery to such purveyor of future consignments of milk from such seller or consignor and the mode of conveying such consignments from such seller or consignor to such purveyor.

• (2) If any purveyor of milk upon whom a notice has been served under this section fails, neglects, or refuses within twenty-four hours after such service to furnish the particulars specified in such notice, such purveyor shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

• (3) A notice under this section may be served by delivering it to the person to whom it is addressed or by sending it by registered post to the person to whom it is addressed at his last known place of abode or at the address registered as his address in any register of milk purveyors kept in pursuance of any enactment by a sanitary authority within the meaning of the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931.

8 Proceedings under the Acts against purveyors of milk.

8.—Where a sample (in this section referred to as the purveyor's sample) of milk is procured from a purveyor of milk under section 13 of the Principal Act, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

• (a) where the milk from which the purveyor's sample was taken was not a mixture of milk purchased by such purveyor from more than one person such purveyor may, within sixty hours after the purveyor's sample was taken, serve a notice (in this section referred to as a purveyor's notice) on the local authority in whose district the purveyor's sample was taken containing particulars of the following matters, that is to say:—

• (i) in case the purveyor's sample is a sample of whole milk, the name and address of the seller from whom such purveyor received such whole milk, the time and place of delivery to such purveyor of future consignments from such seller of whole milk of a milking (morning or evening) corresponding to the milking at which the whole milk from which the purveyor's sample was taken was obtained, and the mode of conveying such consignments from such seller to such purveyor.

• (ii) in any other case, the name and address of the seller from whom such purveyor obtained the milk from which the purveyor's sample was obtained, the time and place of delivery to such purveyor of future consignments from such seller of milk of a similar kind and the mode of conveying such consignment from such seller to such purveyor;

and requesting such local authority to take immediate steps to procure as soon as practicable a sample of milk of a kind similar to that from which the purveyor's sample was obtained, in course of transit from such seller to such purveyor unless a sample has been so taken since the purveyor's sample was taken or within twenty-four hours prior to the purveyor's sample being taken;

• (b) if proceedings are brought against such purveyor under the Acts in respect of the purveyor's sample and such purveyor has failed to serve a purveyor's notice, such purveyor shall not be entitled to plead a warranty as a defence to such proceedings;

• (c) where such purveyor has served a purveyor's notice on such local authority, but such local authority has not complied with the request contained in such notice no proceedings under the Acts shall be taken against such purveyor in respect of the purveyor's sample;

• (d) where such local authority has procured in the course of transit to such purveyor a sample (in this section referred to as the seller's sample) of milk of a kind similar to that from which the purveyor's sample was obtained, from such seller, the seller's sample shall be submitted for analysis to the analyst to whom the purveyor's sample is or was submitted;

• (e) if proceedings are taken under the Acts against such purveyor in respect of the purveyor's sample, a copy of the certificate of the result of the analysis of the seller's sample shall be furnished to such purveyor, and every such certificate shall, subject to the provisions of section 21 of the Principal Act, be sufficient evidence of the facts stated therein, and shall be admissible as evidence on any question whether the milk sold by such purveyor was sold in the same state as he purchased it.

9 Notice of sampling to vendor of milk.

9.—So much of any contract as requires a purveyor of milk, on a sample of milk being taken under the Acts or this Act, to send to the person from whom he procured the milk any part of such sample, or to give to that person notice that a sample has been so taken, shall be void.

10 Expenses of Minister for Agriculture.

10.—All expenses incurred by the Minister for Agriculture under this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

11 Short title and citation.

11.—This Act may be cited as the Sale of Food and Drugs (Milk) Act, 1935, and this Act and the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1907, may be cited together as the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1935.