Food Safety and Quality Act 2016 (No. 5 of 2016).

This Act applies to food business. The objectives of this Act are- (a) to regulate food safety and quality at every stage of the food chain; (b) to regulate all food including fish and meat and fair practices in trade in food products; and (c) generally, to protect human health and consumer interests. "Food business" is defined as ‘any business, however small, where production, manufacture, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging transport, handling, serving, storage or sale in relation food is carried out, whether for profit or not, whether in permanent or temporary structure and whether on land or at sea'. The Act states in various occasions that all food safety measures and actions shall be based on risk assessment.
The Director of Food Safety appointed under section 12 of the Bahamas Agricultural Health and Food Safety Authority Act, 2016, shall he responsible for administering and carrying out the objectives of this Act. This Act defines functions of the Director. ln the interest of public safety, the Minister may on the recommendation of the Director - (a) by Order, prohibit the production, manufacture, preparation or sale of any food or any specified class or description food for a specified period; (b) stipulate conditions for the production, manufacture, preparation or sale of any food or any specified class or description of food. This Act establishes a Food Safety end Quality Committee. The Committee shall, among other things, advise the Director on food safety issues and serve as the national Codex Alimentarius Committee. There shall also be a scientific committee.
The Act also provides of the appointment of food inspectors and defines functions of such inspectors. Inspectors may issue a notice prohibiting the sale of food and serve a suspension order or revocation order issued by the Director. An Inspector may also serve an Improvement Notice on food operators.
The Act furthermore, among other things: provides for the designation of laboratories, requires food standards to be established by the Bureau of Standards, requires every food operator to establish a food safety system (including HACCP) and a system to trace the origin and movement of food items, requires every food operator to keep a register, sets out rules for food labelling, requires food businesses to register, requires persons that handle food to possess a food handlers’ certificate and food operators possess a certificate of sanitation, provides rules for the importation and exportation of food (inspection, duties of traders, etc.), and defines offence and penalties.