Health & safety (see also: Water pollution) - Walkers Snack Foods Limited v Coventry City Council (7 March 1998) Queen's Bench Divisional Court

Following a complaint regarding a piece of plastic found in a packet of crisps, environmental health officers arranged to visit Walkers Snack Foods Limited's factory at Beaumont Leys, Leicester in exercise of their powers under Section 32(1)(b) of the Food Safety Act 1990. During the visit, Walkers Snack Foods Limited's technical support manager initially refused the officers access to the relevant production line (although access was subsequently granted under protest). The officers were also refused access to factory records. Section 32 of the Food Safety Act 1990 empowers environmental health officers to enter any business premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is on the premises any evidence of any contravention of any of the provisions of the Act. This includes the power to review any records in support of an inspection. Walkers Snack Foods Limited was convicted by Coventry Justices for failure to give an environmental health officer the assistance reasonably required for the performance of his functions contrary to Section 33(1)(b) of the Food Safety Act 1990 by not granting the officers unrestricted access to factory records and all areas of the factory premises. Walkers Snack Foods Limited appealed to the Queen's Bench Divisional Court, submitting that the environmental health officers were not entitled to inspect those parts of the premises and/or documents which Walkers Snack Foods Limited intended to rely upon to establish a defence of due diligence under Section 20 of the Food Safety Act 1990. The Court rejected this submission. Under Section 18(c) of the Food Safety Act 1990 (Section 40) Code of Practice No.2: Legal Matters, investigating officers are supposed to assess the prospects of a due diligence defence being made out before deciding whether to prosecute and without free access to production areas and business records, officers could not carry out their statutory functions. Walkers Snack Foods Limited further submitted that evidence obtained during the officers' inspection should be excluded under Section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 since it was procured by means of significant and substantial breaches of the 1984 Act and the Codes of Practice in relation to interviews. The Court also rejected this argument. It held that the inspection was made after a request for information from environmental health officers carrying out their statutory duties and was not therefore governed by Code C as it was not an interview, nor was it covered by Code B as the officers were not relying on Walkers Snack Foods Limited's consent to visit the premises but were relying on their statutory powers. (Times Law Reports, 9 April 1998)