{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/food-safety-and-hygiene-england-regulations-2013/schedule-4/paragraph-7",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/food-safety-and-hygiene-england-regulations-2013/schedule-4/paragraph-7.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2013/2996",
  "legislation_title": "The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/food-safety-and-hygiene-england-regulations-2013",
  "path": "schedule/4/paragraph/7",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "7",
  "heading": "Hot holding defences",
  "text": "(1) In any proceedings for an offence consisting of a contravention of paragraph 6, it shall be a defence for the accused to prove that —\n(a) a well-founded scientific assessment of the safety of the food at temperatures below 63 °C has concluded that there is no risk to health if, after cooking or re-heating, the food is held for service or on display for sale —\n(i) at a holding temperature which is below 63 °C, and\n(ii) for a period not exceeding any period of time specified in that scientific assessment; and\n(b) at the time of the commission of the alleged offence, the food was held in a manner which was justified in the light of that scientific assessment.\n(2) In any proceedings for an offence consisting of a contravention of paragraph 6, it shall be a defence for the accused to prove that the food —\n(a) had been kept for service or on display for sale for a period of less than two hours; and\n(b) had not previously been kept for service or on display for sale by that person.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2996/schedule/4/paragraph/7",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T00:33:50.237386+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}