EnglishLegal enforcement and penalty
There will be both criminal and civil legal enforcements and potentially penalties, if a food business does not comply with the legal requirements of food safety law and food labelling law.
It is the responsibility of the local authorities to enforce the European Food Information to Consumers Regulation No 1169/2011 (FIC). This is usually by means of issuing improvement notices to offending food businesses if they contravene the food labelling policy. It is a criminal offence not to comply with an improvement notice, resulting in fine and arrest warrant in the most serious cases.
In addition to the criminal law, consumers could also raise civic liability order under the product liability provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 or under the common law of negligence.
Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (CPA), a food business can be held liable to consumers for injury, loss or damage suffered as a result of them supplying a defective product, whether or not they are negligent. Any food business has a duty of care to their consumers to supply safe products.