Food and Drugs Act

Section Interpretation Section In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— " dairy "— " food " includes drink, chewing gum and other products of a like nature and use, and articles and substances used as ingredients in the preparation of food or drink or of such products, but does not include— " local authority " means— " advertisement " includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice or other document, and any public announcement made orally or by any means of producing or transmitting light or sound, and "advertise" shall be construed accordingly; " analysis " includes microbiological assay, and "analyse" shall be construed accordingly; " animal " does not include bird or fish; " area " means, in relation to a local authority and to officers of the local authority , the area which is under the jurisdiction of that local authority ; " article " does not include a live animal or bird; " authorised officer " has the meaning assigned to it by section 18 ; " business " includes the undertaking of a canteen, club, school, hospital or institution whether carried on for profit or not, and any undertaking or activity carried on by a local authority ; " catering premises " means premises where, in the course of business , food is prepared and supplied for immediate consumption on the premises ; " cheese " means the substance usually known as cheese, containing no fat other than fat derived from milk ; " container " includes any basket, pail, tray, package or receptacle of any kind, whether open or closed; " court " means a court having jurisdiction; " cream " means that part of milk rich in fat which has been separated by skimming or otherwise; includes any farm, cowshed, milking house, milk store, milk shop or other premises from which milk is supplied on or for sale, or in which milk is kept or used for purposes of sale or for the purposes of manufacture into butter, cheese , dried milk or condensed milk for sale, or in which vessels used for the sale of milk are kept; but does not include a shop from which milk is supplied only in the properly closed and unopened vessels in which it is delivered to the shop, or a shop or other place in which milk is sold for consumption on the premises only; " dairy farm " means any premises , being a dairy , on which milk is produced from cows; " dairy person " includes an occupier of a dairy , a cow keeper, and a purveyor of milk ; " drug " includes medicine for internal or external use by a person, and cosmetics, shampoos, soaps, dusting powders, essences and unguents for use by a person; and disinfectants, germicides, antiseptics and preservatives for use for any purpose; water, live animals or birds; fodder or feeding stuffs for animals, birds or fish; or articles or substances used only as drugs; " functions " includes powers and duties; " health inspector " means any health inspector or sanitary inspector in the service of the Government or of a local authority ; " human consumption " includes use in the preparation of food for human consumption; " ice cream " includes any preparation sold under the name of ice cream or any similar title whether containing milk or cream or not; the municipal council in the case of a municipality; the town council in the case of a town; any person or body of persons appointed by the Minister by statutory instrument to be the local authority for the purposes of this Act for any particular area of Uganda; the district commissioner in the case of any area outside a municipality or town and for which no local authority has been appointed; " medical officer of health " includes any person appointed as a medical officer of health and any medical practitioner in the service of the Government or other medical practitioner appointed by the chief medical officer to act as such in any area ; " medical practitioner " means a person who is registered or licensed as such under any law in force in Uganda governing the registration or licensing of medical practitioners; " milk " includes cream and separated milk, but does not include dried milk or condensed milk; " officer " includes servant; " premises " means a building or part of a building and any forecourt, yard or place of storage used in connection with a building or part of a building, and includes, in relation to dairies and dairy farms, and the trade of dairy person or dairy farmer, any land other than buildings; " preparation " in relation to food , includes manufacture and any form of treatment, and "preparation for sale" includes packaging, and "prepare" and "prepare for sale" shall be construed accordingly; " public analyst " means a person appointed by the Minister by notice in the Gazette to act in the capacity of analyst for the purposes of this Act; " purveyor ", in relation to milk , includes any person who sells milk , whether wholesale or by retail; " sanitary convenience " means a latrine, privy, urinal, water-closet, pit latrine or earth-closet; " separated ", in relation to milk , includes skimmed; " ship " includes any boat or craft; " substance " includes a liquid; " transit " includes all stages of transit from the dairy , place of manufacture or other source of origin, to the consumer; " vessel " includes a receptacle of any kind, whether open or closed.

Section Prohibition of sale of milk from diseased cows Section No person shall— sell, or offer or expose for sale, for human consumption ; or use in the manufacture of products for sale for human consumption , In proceedings under this section, the defendant shall be deemed to have known that a cow was suffering as aforesaid, if he or she could with ordinary care have ascertained the fact. A person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Section Adulteration of milk Section Subject to this section, no person shall— add any water or colouring matter or any other liquid or substance , or any dried or condensed milk or liquid reconstituted from that dried or condensed milk , to milk intended for sale for human consumption ; add any separated milk or mixture of cream and separated milk to unseparated milk intended for sale for human consumption ; sell, or offer or expose for sale, or have in his or her possession for the purpose of sale for human consumption , any milk to which any addition has been made in contravention of paragraphs (a) or (b) of this section; or sell, or offer or expose for sale, under the designation of milk , any liquid in the making of which any separated milk or any dried or condensed milk has been used. A person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or to both such fine and imprisonment. For the purposes of subsection (1)(c), a person shall be deemed to retain the possession of milk which is deposited in any place for collection until it is actually collected; but nothing in this subsection shall be taken as prejudicing the defence available under section 22 (2) to a person charged with an offence in respect of a sample of the milk taken after the milk has left his or her possession. Nothing in this section shall apply to such persons or to such class of persons as the Minister may, by statutory order, exempt, and any such exemption may be subject to such conditions as the Minister may, in his or her discretion, impose.

Section Misuse of designation "cream" in relation to cream substitutes Section Subject to this section, no person shall sell, or offer or expose for sale, for human consumption — In this section, "reconstituted cream " means a substance which, not being cream , resembles cream in appearance and contains no ingredient not derived from milk , except— any substance which resembles cream in appearance, but is not cream ; or any article of food containing such a substance , Subsection (1) shall not apply to the sale, or offer or exposure for sale, of any substance being reconstituted or imitation cream as defined by this section, or of any article containing such a substance , under a description or designation which identifies the substance as such, or to the sale, or offer or exposure for sale, of any substance under a description or designation which indicates that the substance is not for use as, or as a substitute for, cream . water; or ingredients, not added fraudulently to increase bulk, weight or measure or to conceal inferior quality, which may lawfully be contained in a substance sold for human consumption as cream , and "imitation cream " means a substance which, not being cream or reconstituted cream , resembles cream in appearance and is produced by emulsifying edible oils or fats with water, either by themselves or with other substances which are neither prohibited by regulations made under this Act, nor added in quantities so prohibited. For the purposes of this section, the description or designation under which a substance or article is sold, or offered or exposed for sale, shall be deemed to include the word " cream " if it includes any other word, composite or otherwise, which is calculated to lead a purchaser to suppose that the substance is or, as the case may be, the article contains either cream or a substance for use as cream . Any person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence, and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand shillings.

Section Food Hygiene Advisory Committee Section The members of the committee appointed under subsection (1) shall include— There shall be established a committee to be called the Food Hygiene Advisory Committee which shall consist of a chairperson appointed by the Minister and such number of other members so appointed as the Minister may determine. persons appearing to the Minister to be qualified to represent the interests of the public generally in relation to matters of food hygiene and related matters; and persons appearing to the Minister to be representative of persons carrying on any of the classes of trade or business affected by the operation of this Act in relation to food . The members of the committee shall hold office for such period as may be specified by the Minister in their respective appointments. The committee may appoint a member of the committee to be vice chairperson of the committee, and in the absence of the chairperson the vice chairperson shall preside at the meetings of the committee. The quorum of the committee shall be four, excluding the chairperson, and on any matters on which the votes of the committee are equally divided, the chairperson shall have a second or casting vote, but subject thereto the committee may act, notwithstanding any vacancy in its number, and may regulate its own procedure. The Minister may, from time to time, refer to the committee for consideration and advice such questions as he or she may think fit, being questions relating to this Act as it applies in relation to food . Without prejudice to subsection (6), where it is proposed to make regulations relating to food under this Act, the Minister shall, unless it appears to him or her inexpedient to do so having regard to the urgency of the matter, refer the proposals in the form of draft regulations to the committee for consideration and advice.

Section Regulations Section The Minister may make regulations for any of the following purposes— regulating the production, storage, distribution and sale of milk and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing— securing the observance of sanitary and cleanly conditions and practices in connection with the sale of food for human consumption or the importation, preparation , transportation, storage, packaging, wrapping, exposure for sale, service or delivery of food intended for sale or sold for human consumption or otherwise for the protection of public health in connection with the matters aforesaid and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing— requiring, prohibiting or regulating the addition of any specified substance , or any substance of any specified class, to food intended for sale for human consumption or any class of such food , or the use of any such substance as an ingredient in the preparation of such food , and generally for regulating the composition of such food ; requiring, prohibiting or regulating the use of any process or treatment in the preparation of any food intended for sale for human consumption , or any class of such food ; prohibiting or regulating the sale, possession for sale, offer or exposure for sale, consignment, or delivery of food which does not comply with any of the regulations, or in relation to which an offence against the regulations has been committed or would have been committed if any relevant act or omission had taken place in Uganda, or for prohibiting or regulating the importation of any such food as aforesaid; prohibiting or regulating the sale, possession for sale, or offer, exposure or advertisement for sale, of any specified substance , or of any substance of any specified class, with a view to its use in the preparation of food intended for sale for human consumption ; the registration of persons carrying on, or proposing to carry on, the trade of a dairy person and the registration of dairies, and prohibiting any person from carrying on such a trade unless he or she and any premises used by him or her as a dairy are duly registered; the inspection of dairies, and of persons in or about dairies who have access to the milk , or to the churns or other milk vessels; with respect to the lighting, ventilation, cleansing, drainage and water supply of dairies; securing the cleanliness of churns and other milk vessels or appliances; prescribing the precautions to be taken for protecting milk against infection or contamination; preventing danger to health from the sale of infected, contaminated or dirty milk , and, in particular, prohibiting the supply or sale of milk suspected of being infected; imposing obligations on dairy persons and their employees in regard to cases of infectious or communicable disease; licensing persons employed by dairy persons to sell milk on their behalf, requiring such persons while engaged in selling milk to carry on their persons a disk or other means of identification, prohibiting the employment by dairy persons of unlicensed persons to sell milk on their behalf and prohibiting any person, unless he or she is licensed for that purpose, from selling milk on behalf of a dairy person ; granting of licences to producers and sellers of milk , authorising the use of a special description of such milk , and prescribing the periods for which and the conditions subject to which licences, or licences of any particular class, are to be granted; regulating the cooling, conveyance and distribution of milk ; with respect to the labelling, marking or identification and the sealing or closing of churns and other vessels used for the conveyance of milk , the labelling of vessels in which milk is sold or offered or exposed for sale or delivered, and the display of the vendor’s name and address on any stall, or any cart, barrow or other vehicle, from which milk is sold or delivered; determining what deficiency in any of the normal constituents of milk , or what proportion of water, in a sample shall for the purposes of this Act raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved, that the article sampled is not genuine milk , the tests to be applied for determining such deficiency, or proportion of water, and the manner in which tests are to be made; requiring persons carrying on business which includes the use, production or importation of substances used for food for human consumption to furnish particulars of the composition and use of any such substance ; imposing requirements as to and otherwise regulating the labelling, marking or advertising of food intended for sale for human consumption , and the descriptions which may be applied to such food ; imposing requirements as to the construction, layout, drainage, equipment, maintenance, cleanliness, ventilation, lighting, water supply and use, of premises in, at or from which food is sold for human consumption , or offered, exposed, stored or prepared for sale, for human consumption , including any part of such premises in which apparatus and utensils are cleansed, or in which refuse is disposed of or stored; imposing requirements as to the provision, maintenance and cleanliness of sanitary and washing facilities in connection with such premises , the disposal of refuse and the maintenance and cleanliness of apparatus, equipment, furnishings and utensils used in such premises , and, in particular, imposing requirements that every sanitary convenience situated in such premises shall be supplied with water through a suitable flushing appliance; prohibiting or regulating the use of any specified materials, or of materials of any specified class, in the manufacture of apparatus or utensils designed for use in the preparation of food for human consumption , and the sale or importation for sale of apparatus or utensils designed for such use and containing any specified materials or materials of any specified class; prohibiting spitting on premises where food is sold for human consumption , or offered, exposed, stored or prepared for sale for human consumption , including any parts of such premises where apparatus and utensils are cleansed; imposing requirements as to the clothing worn by persons in such premises ; securing the inspection of animals intended for slaughter and of carcasses of animals for the purpose of ascertaining whether meat intended for sale for human consumption is fit for such consumption; regulating generally the treatment and disposal of any food unfit for human consumption ; the issuing of licences in respect of the use of vehicles, stalls or places other than premises for the preparation , exposure, or offer for sale or sale of food for human consumption , and the display of such licences and of the names and addresses of licensees on such vehicles, stalls and premises and prohibiting the use for any such purpose of any vehicle, stall or place except in accordance with a licence issued under this Act; prescribing the circumstances in which licences or registration under this Act may be refused, suspended or cancelled, and providing for an appeal by any person aggrieved by such refusal, suspension or cancellation; prescribing standards of quality for any food and prohibiting the manufacture for sale or the sale or the exposure, offer or having in possession for sale of any food which does not conform to the prescribed standards; prohibiting, restricting or regulating the manufacture for sale or the sale or the exposure, offer or having in possession for sale of food containing added preservative or colouring matter; regulating the appointment of public analysts and prescribing the fees payable in respect of analyses performed by such analysts; prescribing the fees to be charged for registration and for the issue of licences under this Act; varying, adding to, deleting from or replacing the Schedule to this Act; prescribing anything which is or may be prescribed; generally for better carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act. The application of any regulations made under subsection (1) may be restricted to such municipalities, towns or trading centres or to such other areas as may be specified in the regulations. All regulations made under subsection (1) shall be laid before Parliament as soon as may be after they are made and if within a period of four months after such regulations are so laid it is resolved by Parliament that any such regulation be annulled, the regulation shall thereupon be void but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under it or to the making of any new regulation in substitution for it.