Citation, commencement and application

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Caseins and Caseinates (England) Regulations 2017 and come into force on 26th September 2017.

(2) They only apply in relation to England.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations-

"edible acid casein" means a milk product obtained by separating, washing and drying the acid-precipitated coagulum of skimmed milk and/or of other products obtained from milk, and complying with the standards set out in Schedule 1;

"edible caseinate" means a milk product obtained by action of edible casein or edible casein curd coagulum with neutralizing agents, followed by drying, and complying with the standards set out in Schedule 2;

"edible rennet casein" means a milk product obtained by separating, washing and drying the coagulum of skimmed milk and/or other products from milk; the coagulum is obtained through the reaction of rennet or other coagulating enzymes, and complying with the standards set out in Schedule 3;

"mixture" means a product composed of any two, or all three, of edible acid casein, edible caseinate and edible rennet casein.

Marketing of certain caseins and caseinates

3.-(1) No person may market a product as-

(a)an edible acid casein;

(b)an edible caseinate;

(c)an edible rennet casein; or

(d)a mixture,

unless it satisfies conditions 1 and 2.

(2) Condition 1 is that the product is an edible acid casein, edible caseinate, edible rennet casein or a mixture (as applicable).

(3) Condition 2 is that the product satisfies the applicable labelling requirements in regulation 4.

Labelling

4.-(1) The labelling requirements are those set out in paragraphs (2) to (4).

(2) The product's package, container or label must be marked with-

(a)in the case of a product which is not a mixture, whichever of the following markings is applicable-

(i)"edible acid casein";

(ii)"edible caseinate";

(iii)"edible rennet casein",

with, in the case of an edible caseinate, an indication of any cation used.

(b)in the case of a mixture-

(i)the words ‘mixture of' followed by the names of the different products of which the mixture is composed, in decreasing order of weight; and

(ii)in the case of a mixture containing edible caseinate-

(aa)an indication of any cation used; and

(bb)the protein content of the mixture;

(c)the net quantity of the product, expressed in kilograms or grams;

(d)the name, or business name, and address of the food business operator under whose name, or business name, the product is marketed or, if that food business operator is not established in the EU, the importer into the EU market;

(e)in the case of a product imported from a country which is not a member State, the name of the country of origin; and

(f)the lot identification of the product or the date of production.

(3) But the package, container or label need not be marked with the particulars referred to in paragraph (2)(b)(ii)(bb), (c), (d) or (e) if those particulars are marked in a document accompanying the product.

(4) A marking required under paragraph (2) or contained in a document as described in paragraph (3) must be-

(a)in easily visible, clearly legible and indelible characters; and

(b)in English, either exclusively or in addition to any other language.

(5) Where the minimum milk protein content standards applicable to a product are exceeded, nothing in these Regulations prevents that fact being marked on the product's package, container or label.

(6) In this regulation-

(a)"cation" refers to a neutralizing or buffering agent mentioned in table 4 of Schedule 2;

(b)"minimum milk protein content standards" means the standards set out at item 2 in table 1 of Schedule 1, 2 or 3 (as applicable).

Caseins and caseinates not suitable for use in food

5.-(1) This regulation applies to a product which is, or contains, a casein or caseinate that does not comply with the contaminants and impurities standards.

(2) No person may use the product for the preparation of food.

(3) Paragraph (4) applies if the product may be lawfully marketed for a purpose other than the preparation of food.

(4) No person may market the product unless it is named and labelled in such a way that the purchaser is not misled as to its nature, quality or intended use.

(5) In this regulation, "the contaminants and impurities standards" are those set out in Schedule 4.

Enforcement

6.  Each food authority must enforce and execute these Regulations in its area.

Application, with modification, of provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990

7.  The provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 specified in column 1 of the table in Schedule 5 apply, with the modifications specified in column 2 of the table, for the purposes of these Regulations.

Revocations

8.  The following Regulations are revoked-

(a)the Caseins and Caseinates Regulations 1985(4);

(b)the Caseins and Caseinates (Amendment) Regulations 1989(5).

Review

9.-(1) The Secretary of State must from time to time-

(a)carry out a review of the regulatory provision contained in these Regulations, and

(b)publish a report setting out the conclusions of the review.

(2) The first report must be published before 26 September 2022.

(3) Subsequent reports must be published at intervals not exceeding 5 years.

(4) Section 30(3) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015(6) requires that a review carried out under this regulation must, so far as is reasonable, have regard to how Directive (EU) 2015/2203 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws of the member States relating to caseins and caseinates intended for human consumption and repealing Council Directive 83/417/EEC(7) is implemented in other member States.

(5) Section 30(4) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires that a report published under this regulation must, in particular-

(a)set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory provision referred to in paragraph (1)(a),

(b)assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved,

(c)assess whether those objectives remain appropriate, and

(d)if those objectives remain appropriate, assess the extent to which they could be achieved in another way which involves less onerous regulatory provision.

(6) In this regulation, "regulatory provision" has the same meaning as in sections 28 to 32 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (see section 32 of that Act).

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE 1Standards applicable to edible acid caseins

Table 1Essential factors of composition

Table 2Contaminants

Table 3Impurities

Table 4Processing aids, bacterial cultures and authorised ingredients

Table 5Organoleptic characteristics

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE 2Standards applicable to edible caseinates

Table 1Essential factors of composition

Table 2Contaminants

Table 3Impurities

Table 4Food additives

(Optional neutralizing and buffering agents)

Table 5Characteristics

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE 3Standards applicable to edible rennet caseins

Table 1Essential factors of composition

Table 2Contaminants

Table 3Impurities

Table 4Processing aids, bacterial cultures and authorised ingredients

Table 5Organoleptic characteristics

Regulation 5

SCHEDULE 4The contaminants and impurities standards

Contaminants

Impurities

Regulation 7

SCHEDULE 5Modifications of the Food Safety Act 1990

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations implement, in relation to England, Directive (EU) 2015/2203 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws of the member States relating to caseins and caseinates intended for human consumption and repealing Council Directive 83/417/EEC (OJ L 314, 1.12.2015, p.1). That Directive is referred to in this note as the "2015 Caseins Directive".

Regulation 2 defines terms used in the Regulations, in particular "edible acid casein", "edible caseinate", and "edible rennet casein" and in doing so introduces Schedules 1 to 3 which set out the applicable technical standards for those products.

Regulation 3 imposes requirements in respect of the marketing of products as an edible acid casein, edible caseinate and edible rennet casein, including requiring a product marketed as such a casein or caseinate to be labelled in accordance with regulation 4. In doing so it implements Article 3(a) and Article 4 of the 2015 Caseins Directive.

Regulation 5 prohibits the use of a casein or caseinate which does not comply with the contaminants and impurities standards (as set out in Schedule 4) in the preparation of food and requires that such a casein or caseinate, if lawfully marketed for purposes other than the preparation of food, is marketed in a way that is not misleading as to the product's nature, quality or intended use. In doing so, regulation 5 implements Article 3(b) of the 2015 Caseins Directive.

Regulations 6 and 7, and Schedule 5 (introduced by regulation 7), make provision about the enforcement of these Regulations.

Regulation 8 revokes the Regulations which implemented the predecessor of the 2015 Caseins Directive. That Directive (Council Directive 83/417/EEC of 25 July 1983 on the approximation of the laws of the member States relating to certain lactoproteins (caseins and caseinates) intended for human consumption – OJ L 237, 26.08.1983 p. 25) is repealed by Article 8 of the 2015 Caseins Directive.

The 2015 Caseins Directive was implemented for Scotland by the Caseins and Caseinates (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2016 (S.S.I 2016/422), for Wales by the Caseins and Caseinates (Wales) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/1130 W. 270) and for Northern Ireland by the Caseins and Caseinates Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. (NI) 2016 No 415).

The Explanatory Memorandum for the Regulations is published alongside the Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk or may be obtained by writing to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, Westminster, London SW1P 3JR. This Explanatory Note contains the information that would otherwise be included in a Transposition Note. An Impact Assessment has not been prepared for this instrument. This is because no significant impact on business, charities or voluntary bodies is foreseen.