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Food Act 2014

Provisions relating to recognition, territorial authorities, administration, and enforcement - Offences - Offences

234: Offences involving imported food

You could also call this:

"Selling imported food wrongly can get you in trouble with the law"

Illustration for Food Act 2014

If you sell food that was imported for personal use only, you can get in trouble. You also break the law if you sell food for people to eat that was not meant for human consumption. If you do not follow the rules in section 108, you commit an offence.

If you know or should know that food was imported for personal use only, and you sell it, that is against the law. The same applies if you know or should know that food was not meant for human consumption, and you sell it. You also break the law if you are not a registered importer and do not follow the rules in section 108.

If you are taken to court for breaking these laws, you can be fined. The amount of the fine depends on whether you are a company or an individual. Companies can be fined up to $200,000, while individuals can be fined up to $50,000 for some offences. For other offences, companies can be fined up to $500,000, and individuals can be imprisoned for up to 2 years and fined up to $100,000. You can find some defences to these charges in sections 251 and 253.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2996352.

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Health and wellbeing > Food and water safetyBusiness > Industry rules
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Part 4Provisions relating to recognition, territorial authorities, administration, and enforcement
Offences: Offences

234Offences involving imported food

  1. A person commits an offence if the person—

  2. sells food that was imported on the basis that it was for personal consumption only; or
    1. sells food for human consumption that was imported on the basis that it was not for human consumption; or
      1. breaches or fails to comply with section 108.

        1. A person commits an offence if the person,—

        2. knowing that or being reckless as to whether food was imported on the basis that it was for personal consumption only, sells that food; or
          1. knowing that or being reckless as to whether food was imported on the basis that it was not for human consumption, sells that food; or
            1. knowing that the person is not a registered importer or being reckless as to whether the person is a registered importer, breaches or fails to comply with section 108.

              1. In a prosecution for an offence against subsection (1), it is not necessary to prove that the defendant intended to commit the offence.

              2. Sections 251 and 253 contain defences to a prosecution for an offence against subsection (1).

              3. A person who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction,—

              4. for a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $200,000:
                1. for an individual, to a fine not exceeding $50,000.

                  1. A person who commits an offence against subsection (2) is liable on conviction,—

                  2. for a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $500,000:
                    1. for an individual, to—
                      1. imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years; and
                        1. a fine not exceeding $100,000.