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Section 11: Food in transit.

Food Act 1984 · 1984 c. 30View on legislation.gov.uk

Part I: Food Generally

If an authorised officer of a council has reason to suspect that any vehicle or container contains any food—

which is intended for sale for human consumption, or
which is in the course of delivery after sale for human consumption,

he may examine the contents of the vehicle or container, subject to subsections (4) and (5).

For that purpose the officer may, if necessary, detain the vehicle or container.

If the officer finds any food which appears to him to be intended for, but unfit for, human consumption, he may deal with it as food falling within section 9(1), and subsections (2) to (4) of that section shall apply accordingly.

Nothing in this section authorises the detention of—

any vehicle belonging to any of the Boards established by the Transport Act 1962, the London Transport Executive, and their wholly owned subsidiaries, and used by them for the purposes of any railway operated by them;
any vehicle belonging to a railway company and used by them for the purposes of their undertaking;
any authorised vehicle used for the purpose of his business as a carrier of goods by a person holding a licence under Part V of the Transport Act 1968.

Where the duties of an officer of customs and excise with respect to any goods have not been wholly discharged, nothing in this section authorises the examination of those goods without his consent.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.