Singapore legislation
Section 4
Section 4
Power of authorised officers to enter, etc.
(1)
Any authorised officer may —
at any reasonable time enter and inspect any place where that authorised officer has reason to believe that there is any food or food contact article intended for sale;
inspect any food or food contact article wherever found which that authorised officer has reason to believe is intended for sale;
open and examine any receptacle or package which that authorised officer has reasonable grounds for believing to contain any article to which this Act applies;
mark, seal or otherwise secure, weigh, count or measure any food or food contact article the sale, preparation or manufacture of which is, or appears to be, contrary or not in compliance with an applicable requirement of this Act with respect to food or food contact articles;
seize any food or food contact article wherever found which is or appears to be unwholesome or deleterious to health or which is contrary or not in compliance with an applicable requirement of this Act with respect to food or food contact articles; and any article seized under this Act may at the option of an authorised officer be kept or stored in the building or place where it was seized or may at the direction of an authorised officer be removed to any other proper place;
require any person selling or manufacturing any food or food contact article or that person’s agent or employee to state that person’s name and place of residence; and
destroy any food wherever found which is decayed or putrefied or deleterious to health.
(2)
Any person claiming anything seized under this section may within 48 hours after the seizure complain thereof to a Magistrate’s Court, and the complaint may be heard and determined by that Court, which may either confirm or disallow the seizure wholly or in part and may order the article seized to be restored.
(3)
If within 48 hours after such seizure no complaint has been made, or if the seizure is confirmed, the article seized becomes the property of the Agency and must be destroyed or otherwise disposed of so as to prevent it being used for human consumption.
(4)
Where the seizure of any food or food contact article is made under subsection (1)(e), the authorised officer making the seizure has to immediately give written notice of the seizure in the form prescribed or designed under section 53 to the owner or to the consignor or consignee or to the owner’s agent of the thing seized, if the name and address of the owner, consignor, consignee or agent are attached to that food or food contact article or are otherwise known to the authorised officer and the address is in Singapore.