Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Food Act 1984 - SECT 4E

Meaning of unsuitable food

4E. Meaning of unsuitable food



(1) For the purposes of this Act, food is unsuitable if it is food that-

   (a)  is damaged, deteriorated or perished to an extent that affects its
        reasonable intended use; or

   (b)  contains any damaged, deteriorated or perished substance that affects
        its reasonable intended use; or



   (c)  is the product of a diseased animal, or an animal that has died
        otherwise than by slaughter, and has not been declared by or under
        another Act to be safe for human consumption; or

   (d)  contains a biological or chemical agent, or other matter or substance,
        that is foreign to the nature of the food.

(2) However, food is not unsuitable for the purposes of this Act merely
because-

   (a)  at any particular time before it is sold for human consumption it
        contains an agricultural or veterinary chemical; or

   (b)  when it is sold for human consumption it contains an agricultural or
        veterinary chemical, so long as it does not contain the chemical in an
        amount that contravenes the Food Standards Code; or

   (c)  it contains a metal or non-metal contaminant (within the meaning of
        the Food Standards Code) in an amount that does not contravene the
        permitted level for the contaminant as specified in the Food Standards
        Code; or

   (d)  it contains any matter or substance that is permitted by the Food
        Standards Code.

(3) In this section, slaughter of an animal includes the killing of an animal
in the process of capturing, taking or harvesting it for the purposes of
preparing it for use as food.