Title, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Extraction Solvents in Food (Amendment) Regulations 1998.

(2) This regulation and regulation 2(a), (c)(ii) and (e)(ii) shall come into force on 27th October 1998 and the remainder of these Regulations shall come into force on 27th April 1999.

(3) In these Regulations “the principal Regulations” means the Extraction Solvents in Food Regulations 1993(2).

Amendment of the principal Regulations

2.  The principal Regulations shall be amended as follows–

(a)in regulation 4 (sale of food containing extraction solvents and of extraction solvents) in paragraph (2) subparagraph (e) for the words “items 11 to 20” there shall be substituted the words “items 11 to 21”;

(b)after regulation 8 (transitional provision) there shall be inserted the following regulation–

“Defence in relation to existing stocks

9.  In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that–

(a)the food or, as the case may be, the extraction solvent in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed was placed on the market or labelled before 27th April 1999; and

(b)the act or omission alleged to constitute the offence would not, if it had been committed or had occurred, as appropriate, before 27th April 1999, have constituted an offence under these Regulations prior to their amendment by the Extraction Solvents in Food (Amendment) Regulations 1998.”;

(c)in Schedule 1 Part I (permitted extraction solvents) in Column 1–

(i)entry number 3 “Butyl acetate” and entry number 18 “Methyl-propan-l-ol” shall be omitted;

(ii)after entry number 20 there shall be inserted the following entry–

“21.  l,1,1,2–tetrafluoroethane”;

(d)for Schedule 2 (foods in which only certain permitted extraction solvents may be used and then only for certain purposes) there shall be substituted the content of the Schedule to these Regulations; and

(e)in Schedule 3 (maximum residues of extraction solvent permitted in foods due to the use in those foods of food consisting of flavourings prepared from natural flavouring materials by using those extraction solvents)–

(i)in Column 1 (extraction solvent) the entry “Methyl-propan-l-ol” shall be omitted together with the corresponding entry in Column 2 (maximum residue); and

(ii)there shall be inserted at the end in Column 1 the entry “l,l,l,2–tetrafluoroethane” and in Column 2 the entry “0.02 mg/kg”.

Regulation 2(d)

SCHEDULE

Regulation 4(2)(d)

“SCHEDULE 2Foods in which certain permitted extraction solvents may be used only for certain purposes

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, amend the Extraction Solvents in Food Regulations 1993 (“the principal Regulations”) in implementation of European Parliament and Council Directive 97/60/EC amending for the third time Directive 88/344/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States on extraction solvents used in the production of foodstuffs and food ingredients (OJ No. L331, 3.12.97, p.7).

The Regulations–

(a)from 27th October 1998 add one extraction solvent to the list of permitted extraction solvents and make consequential amendments (regulations 1(2), 2(a), (c)(ii) and (e)(ii)); and

(b)from 27th April 1999–

(i)remove two extraction solvents from the list of permitted extraction solvents and make consequential amendments (regulations 1(2), 2(c)(i) and (e)(i));

(ii)provide a defence in respect of food or an extraction solvent placed on the market or labelled before 27th April 1999 which complies with the principal Regulations prior to their amendment by these Regulations (regulation 2(b)); and

(iii)in relation to the permitted extraction solvent “hexane”–

(aa)reduce the maximum permitted residue in fats, oils and cocoa butter to 1 mg/kg; and

(bb)as regards protein products, specify that only those products which have been defatted are those in the preparation of which such solvent may be added and provide that such products include defatted soya products as sold to the final consumer (regulation 2(d) and the Schedule).

No Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared in relation to these Regulations.