food adulteration

FOOD ADULTERATION [food adulteration] act of intentionally debasing the quality of

food offered for sale either by the admixture or substitution of inferior substances or by
the removal of some valuable ingredient. The Greek and Roman classics contain
allusions to wine makers and dealers who colored and flavored their wine. In England as
early as the 13th cent., bakers cheapened their wares or scanted the weight, and
lawmakers for the first time made an effort to prevent fraudulent dealings on the part of
butchers and brewers. In Great Britain in the 18th and early 19th cent., coffee, tea, and
cocoa were placed under protection laws by Parliament, passed not so much in the
interest of the consumer as to keep up internal revenues. About the middle of the 19th
cent. chemical and microscopal knowledge had reached the stage that food substances
could be analyzed, and the subject of food adulteration began to be studied from the
standpoint of the rights and welfare of the consumer. In 1860 the first food law framed in
the interest of the purchaser was passed. That law, lacking sufficient means of
enforcement, remained largely ineffective until 1872, when administrative officials were
appointed and penalties for violation provided. In the United States the federal Food and
Drug Act of 1906 was the result of a long and stormy campaign led by Dr. Harvey
Washington Wiley . This law defined food adulteration and the misbranding of products;
it provided regulations covering the interstate movement of food and penalties for
violations. The act was superseded in 1938 by the more rigorous Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act administered since 1940 by the Food and Drug Administration (now within
the Dept. of Health and Human Services). It is charged with enforcing truthful and
informative labeling of essential commodities, maintaining staff laboratories, and
formulating definitions and standards promoting fair dealing in the interests of the
consumer. The 1938 act broadened the definitions of adulteration, misbranding, and lack
of informative labeling; it provided for factory inspections; and it increased the penalties
for violations. It was amended in 1958 and 1962 to define and regulate food additives and
food coloring. Imported goods that violate the provisions of the act may be denied
admittance to the United States and if not removed within a given time may be destroyed.
The federal law controls traffic from one state to another and is supplemented by local
regulations that require food handlers to be licensed, thereby discouraging the spread of
disease; it provides for the inspection by health officers of meat and other foods, of
restaurants, and of dairies and cold storage methods. Food may be poisonous for reasons
other than deliberate adulteration; see botulism , food poisoning .

Food Adulteration the act of adding or mixing something inferior, harmful, useless and
unnecessary substance to food. In other words, any food item may be considered as
adulterated if its nature and quality are not up to the standard. Unscrupulous traders
normally adulterate food. In the process of adulteration, extraneous matters are directly
added to food grains. Sands and crushed rock are added to increase weight. Mixing
infested and damaged grains to good quality grains is a common practice. Sometimes
grain polishing and husks are added to increase the weight. Nowadays, plastic beads that
have the shape of food grains are often mixed with cereal grains. Coloured beads are
added to the pulses. Sometimes water is sprayed over the grain stock to increase the
weight.

Adulteration of fats and oils is easy and cannot be easily detected. Ghee (butter oil) is
adulterated with hydrogenated oil and animal fats. Recently, because of the discovery of
synthetic colours and flavours, any fat can be made to look like ghee and customers may
easily be cheated. Til oil and coconut oil are often mixed with groundnut or cottonseed
oil as the latter are cheaper. Mustard seeds are often mixed with argemone seeds and
extracted together. Argemone oil contains an alkaloid-sanguinarine which is highly toxic
and results in dropsy and paralysis. Adding allylisothiocyanate to soybean oil or palm oil
gives the characteristic pungent smell of mustard oil. Mixing of palm oil with soybean oil
is a common practice among dishonest traders for more profits.

The adulteration of milk is normally done with the addition of water and removal of fat.
Sometimes extraneous substances like soybean and groundnut milk, wheat flour, etc are
mixed. Selling diluted buffalo milk as cow milk is a common practice in rural areas.
Addition of wheat flour, semolina, etc to milk powder is also common.

tea leaves may be adulterated with the addition of used tea leaves, sawdust, and dried and
ground leaves other than tea leaves. Spices like chillies and turmeric powder are
adulterated with the addition of lead pigment to impart brightness in colour and good
appearance. Metanil yellow, a carcinogenic agent, is used for colouring turmeric powder.
chilli powder is normally adulterated by adding brick powder. Excessive use of wheat
flour in place of milk protein (chhana) in the preparation of sweetmeat is an example of
adulteration. Use of carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) in lieu of liquid glucose or sugar
syrup in the preparation of soft drinks is an example of extortion. In the name of various
fruit juices, imitation products are prepared by using artificial and prohibited ingredients
instead of using original fruit juice. Recently, a special drink named mineral water is
being prepared and marketed with little or no assurance of quality. [M Kabirullah]

What Is Food Adulteration ?

Under the Prevention of Food Adulterant Act, an Adulterant is any material which be
employed for the purposes of adulteration.

Any article of food is adulterated if :

1. If any inferior or cheaper substance has been substituted wholly or in part,

2. If any constituent of the article ahs been wholly or in part abstracted

3. If the article has been prepared, packed or kept under insanitary conditions

4. If the article consists in part filthy, rotten, decomposed or diseased animal or

vegetable or is infested with insects

5. If the article is obtained from diseased animal

6. If the article contains any poisonous ingredient

7. If the article has unprescribed colouring substance or the colouring substance is in

excess of the prescribed limits.

8. If the article contains any prohibited or excessive preservatives.

9. If the quality nor purity of the article falls below prescribed standard

What is Food ?

Food is what we eat food provides us various nutrients to regulate our body processes,
protect us from diseases and satisfies our lunges which give us a sense of psychological
satisfaction. In the III Chapter of Shreemad Bhagwat Geeta there is a line "Anant
Bhawati Bhootanee" which means "the human being is made from food". This statement
is true become everything in your body was once the food you ate. Pure food gives us
health, happiness, efficiency and longevity. Pure food is what it is represented to be ; it
should be wholesome and do all the good it should do and be free from anything that
does any harm or might impair its goodness. The nature, quantity and quality of food pay
a vital role in the maintenance of health of individuals.

Preparation and processing of food products may modify their nutritional value and use
of food additives may introduce direct or indirect toxicity, but the real hazards to health
are caused food adulteration. In order to curb the menace of food adulteration,
Government of India introduced the prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 with
prevention of Food Adulteration rules 1955. Government of Gujarat in 1961 introduced
the Gujarat prevention of food adulteration rules. The object of this food legislation is to
prevent adulteration and misbranding of foods as defined there in and punish responsible
one because it is crime against humanity. The social evil of fraudulently selling
adulterated food stuffs not only affects the health of the citizens but tends to demoralize
the whole nation and greviously obstructs its moral & economic progress. The provisions
of the act are directed for the purpose of securing purity of food and to inform purchasers
of what they are buying and they must be construed to effect such purpose.

Definitions :

Any article used as food or drink for human consumption other than drugs and water
includes.

(a) any article which ordinarily enters into, or is used in the composition or preparation of
human food.

(b) Any flavouring matter or condiments, and

(c) Any other article which the central Government may, having regard to its use, nature,
suistance or quality, declare by notification in the Official Gazette, as food for the
purposes of this Act.

WHAT AMOUNTS TO ADULTERATION OF FOOD OR DRINK INTENDED FOR

SALE
'Adulteration' means mixing with any other substance whether wholly different or
of the same kind but of inferior quality. Mere adulteration with harmless
ingredients for the purpose of getting more profit is not punishable. It is essential
to show that that an article of food or drink has been adulterated and that it was
intended to be sold, or knowing that it would be likely to be sold as food or drink.

PREVENTING FOOD ADULTERATION

Food is essential for life. It should be pure, nutritious and free from any type of
adulteration for proper maintenance of human health.

Despite of improvement in production, processing and packaging, more

poisons seem to be entering our food chain. For example Indian spices or
'masalas' add taste and flavour to food and also help in digestion. Some
spices like turmeric have an antiseptic effect on the body. But what is
most important is the quality of these ingredients. Every consumer wants
to get maximum quantity of a commodity for as low a price as possible.
This attitude of the consumer being coupled with the intention of the traders to increase
the margin of profit, where the quality of the commodity gets reduced through addition of
a baser substance and / or removal of vital elements also commonly known as food
adulteration.

How to Test for Food Adulteration?

Food
Adulterant Simple Method for Detecting the Adulterant
Article
Water
Put a drop of milk on polished vertical surface. The drop of
pure milk either stops or flows slowly leaving a white trail
behind it. Whereas milk adulterated with water will flow
immediately without leaving a mark.
Milk

Take 5 ml of milk in a test tube and add 2 drops of

Urea
bromothymol blue soln. Development of blue colour after 10
minutes indicates presence of urea.

Mustard Argemone Argemone seeds have rough surface and mustard seeds on
Seeds Seeds pressing is yellow inside while argemone seed is white.
Put some lemon juice, bubbles are observed on the presence
Ice Cream Washing Powder
of washing powder
Dissolve sugar in a glass of water, chalk will settle down at
Sugar Chalk
the bottom, similarly for salt
On ignition genuine silver foil burns away completely leaving
Silver Foil Aluminium Foil glistening white spherical ball of the same mass while
aluminum foil is reduced to ashes of black Grey colour.
Honey Water A cotton wick dipped in pure honey burns when ignited with a
 match stick. If adulterated presence of water will not allow
the honey to burn, if it does will produce a cracking sound.
Gently sprinkle the coffee powder on surface of water in a
glass. The coffee floats over the water but chicory begins to
Coffee Chicory sink down within few seconds. The falling chicory powder
particles leave behind them a trail of colour, due to large
amount of caramel they contain
Coloured leaves
Rub leaves on white paper, artificial colour comes out on
paper.

Tea leaves sprinkled on wet filter paper. Pink or red spots on

Tea Used tea
paper show colour

Move a magnet through the sample. Iron will stick to the

magnet.
Iron fillings
Rodamine Take 2gms sample in a test tube, add 5ml of acetone.
Culture Immediate appearance of red colour indicates presence of
Red Chilli Rodamine.
Powder
Brick powder settles fast chilli powder settles slowly when
Brick Powder put in water.
Add a few drops of HCl to the extract of turmeric from
Turmeric water. Instant appearance of violet, when the colour persists
Metanil Yellow
Powder when diluted with water indicates the presence of metanil
yellow.
Dal arhar, Extract the colour with Luke warm water from the sample of
moong, washed Metanil Yellow pulses, add drops of HCl. A pink colour indicates presence of
channa metanil yellow.
Green Take a small part of the sample and place it over a moistened
vegetables Malachite green white blotting paper, the impression of the colour on paper
like chilli indicates the presence of malachite green
Take one teaspoonful of melted ghee or butter with equal
quantity of Conc. Hydrochloric acid in a test tube and add to
Pure Ghee or
Vanaspathi it a pinch of cane sugar. Shake well for one minute and let it
Butter
stand for five minutes. Appearance of crimson colour in lower
layer shows the presence of vanaspathi.
Float the sample in alcohol. The mature black pepper berries
Black Pepper Papaya Seeds
sink while papaya seeds and light black pepper float.
Shake a little portion of sample with water and allow to
Soap Stone or
Hing settle. Soap stone or earthy matter will settle down at the
earthy matter
bottom.
Saffron Coloured dried Pure saffron will not break easily like artificial. Pure saffron
tendrils of when allowed to dissolved in water will continue to give its
 maize cob colour so long as it lasts.
White powdered Stir a spoonful of sample salt in water. Chalk will make the
Common Salt
stone solution white and other insoluble impurities will setlle down.

For HCL you can use Tezab /Acid at your home, used for cleaning toilets. For acetone , you may use
look nail polish remover.

The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 aims at making provisions for the
prevention of adulteration of food. The Act extends to the whole of India and came into
force on 1st June 1955.

WHAT IS ADULTERATED FOOD?

An article of food shall be deemed to be adulterated -

if the article sold by a vendor is not of the nature, substance or quality demanded by the
purchaser or which it purports to be;

if the article contains any substance affecting its quality or of it is so processed as to

injuriously affect its nature, substance or quality;

if any inferior or cheaper substance has been substituted wholly or partly for the article,
or any constituent of the article has been wholly or partly abstracted from it, so as to
affecting its quality or of it is so processed as to injuriously affect its nature, substance or
quality;

if the article had been prepared, packed or kept under insanitary conditions whereby it
has become contaminated or injurious to health;

if the article consists wholly or in part of any filthy, putrid, disgusting, rotten,
decomposed or diseased animal or vegetable substance or being insect-infested, or is
otherwise unfit for human consumption;

if the article is obtained from a diseased animal;

if the article contains any poisonous or other ingredient which is injurious to health;
if the container of the article is composed of any poisonous or deleterious substance
which renders its contents injurious to health;

if the article contains any prohibited colouring matter or preservative, or any permitted
colouring matter or preservative in excess of the prescribed limits;

if the quality or purity of the article falls below the prescribed standard, or its constituents
are present in proportions other standard, or its constituents are present in proportions
other than those prescribed, whether or not rendering it injurious to health.

Thus, additions of water to milk amount to adulteration, within the meaning of sub-
clauses (b) or (c).

WHEN ARE FOODS MISBRANDED

An article of food shall be deemed to be misbranded-

if it is an imitation of, or is a substitute for, or resembles in a manner likely to deceive,
another article of food, and is not conspicuously labelled so as to indicate its true
character,

if it is falsely stated to be the product of any place or country,

if it is sold by a name which belongs to another article of food,

if it is so coloured, flavoured, coated, powdered or polished as to conceal any damage to

the article or to appear of greater value than it really is,

if false claims are made for it upon the label or otherwise,

if, when sold in sealed or prepared packages by its manufacturer, the contents of each
package are not conspicuously and correctly stated on the outside thereof;

if the package containing it is deceptive with respect to its contents, in any manner, such
as label, statement, design or device which is misleading,

if the package containing it, or the label thereon, bears the name of a fictitious individual
or company as the manufacturer or producer of the article,

if it purports to be, or is represented as being for special dietary uses, unless its label
bears the prescribed information concerning its dietary properties,
if it contains any artificial flavouring, colouring or chemical preservatives without
declaring the same on the label, or in violation of the requirements of this Act and the
Rules made thereunder, and

if it is not labelled in accordance with the requirements of this Act and the Rules made
thereunder.

Preservative: means a substance which when added to food, is capable of inhibiting,

retarding or arresting the process of fermentation, acidification or other decomposition of
food.

Main Acts applicable to the Food Processing Industry

The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 is the primary law which protects consumers
against adulterated food stuffs. It is similar to the FDA of the United States in operation. The
Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 is applicable not just to domestic food stuffs but also to
imported food stuffs. It covers carious aspects of food processing such as food colour,
preservatives, pesticide residues, packaging and labeling and regulation of sales. The law is
enforced by the Additional Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare of the Central Government.

Click here for more details on the Prevention of Food adulteration Act

The Essential Commodities Act is another law which is applicable to the food processing
industry. This acts provides for the control of the production, supply and distribution of and trade
and commerce in certain essential commodities, including foodstuffs under emergency and
exceptional situations such as acute scarcity, national security, etc.

Click here for more details on the Essential Commodities Act.

PROHIBITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS

PROHIBITION ON THE MANUFACTURE, SALE, ETC. OF CERTAIN FOOD

ARTICLES

No person shall manufacture, store, sell or distribute

(i) any adulterated food,
(ii) any misbranded food,
(iii) food articles to be sold under licence without fulfilling the conditions of the licence,
(iv) any food article the sale of which is prohibited by the Food (Health) Authority in the
interest of public health,
(v) any food article in contravention of any other provision of the Act or the Rules, (see
‘Conditions for Sale’) or
(vi) any adulterant.

The act of storing an adulterated article of food would be an offence only if storing is for
sale. The sale of a part of the stored article constitutes an offence distinct and independent
from the offence of storing for sale.

PROHIBITION ON USE OF CERTAIN EXPRESSIONS WHILE LABELLING OF

EDIBLE OILS AND FATS

The package, label or the advertisement of edible oils and fats shall not use the
expressions Super-Refined, Extra-Refined, Micro-Refined, Double-Refined, Ultra-
Refined, Anti-Cholesterol, Cholesterol Fighter, Soothing to Heart, Cholesterol Friendly,
Saturated Fat Free or such other expressions which are exaggerations of the quality of the
product. (Rule 37 D).

PROHIBITION ON SALE OF CERTAIN ADMIXTURES

For example, cream which has not been prepared exclusively from milk, milk which
contains any added water, ghee which contains any added matter not exclusively derived
from milk fat, a mixture of two or more edible oils as an edible oil and turmeric
containing any foreign substances, etc. (Rule 44)

PROHIBITION ON USE OF ACETYLENE GAS (carbide gas) in artificially ripening of

fruits (Rule 44 AA).

PROHIBITION ON SALE OF FOOD ARTICLES COATED WITH MINERAL OIL,

except in accordance with the permitted standards. (Rule 44 AAA and Appendix B).

RESTRICTION ON SALE OF GHEE having less than specified Reichert value except
under the "AGMARK" seal. (Rule 46).

PROHIBITION ON SALE OF ADMIXTURES OF GHEE OR BUTTER or on its use as

an ingredient in the preparation of an article of food. (Rule 46).

Any food item resembling honey, but not pure honey, shall not be marked "honey". (Rule
45).
RESTRICTION ON SALE OF KANGRA TEA except only after it is graded and marked
in accordance with the provisions of Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act,
1937 and the Rules made thereunder. (Rule 44E).

CONDITIONS FOR SALE OF FLAVOURED TEA only by those manufacturers. Who

are registered with Tea Board and the package bearing the label, ‘FLAVOURED TEA’
(Common name of permitted flavour, percentage and Registration No.). (Rule 44G).

RESTRICTION ON SALE OF COMMON SALT No person shall, sell or offer or expose

for sale or have in his premises for the purpose of sale, common salt for direct human
consumption unless the same is iodised. (Rule 44H).

RESTRICTION ON USE AND SALE OF ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS except that

saccharin sodium can be added to carbonated water, supari, pan masala and pan
flavouring material within the specified maximum limit and aspertaine may be sold for
diabetic use under medical advice. (Rule 47).

PROHIBITION ON SALE OF PERMITTED FOOD COLOURS, i.e. Synthetic colours,

or their mixtures or any preparation of such colours, except under a licence. (Rule 48A).

PROHIBITION ON SALE OF PERMITTED FOOD ADDITIVES, except only under the

ISI certification marks. (Rule 48C).

PROHIBITION ON USE OF COUMARIN AND DIHYDRO COCUMARIN,

TANKABEAN (DIPTERYL ADORAT) AND B-ASARANE AND CINAMYL
AUTHRACILATE, as flavouring agents. Any extraneous addition of flavouring agent
should be mentioned on the label attached to any package of food so flavoured, in capital
letters in the following manner:

"CONTAINS ADDED FLAVOUR"

RESTRICTION ON USE OF PRESERVATIVES, Addition of Class I preservatives i.e.

Common Salt, Sugar, Dextrose, Glucose (syrup), Spices, Vinegar or acetic acid, honey
and edible vegetable oil, in any food is not restricted, provided that the food article to
which the preservative has been added conforms to the specifications laid down in
Appendix B.

Class II preservatives such as Benzoic acid and its salts, sodium diacetate and sodium,
potassium and calcium salts of lactic acid, etc. can be used only restrictively. Use of more
than one Class II preservative is prohibited.
CONDITIONS FOR SALE OF A FOOD ARTICLE, Every utensil or container, used for
manufacturing, preparing or containing any food or ingredients therefor, and second hand
tin containers for packaging of edible oils and fats, meant for sale, shall be maintained in
a clean and sanitary condition, away from impure air or dust, properly covered at all
times, and such utensils or containers shall not be used for any other purpose. Use of
rusty containers, improperly tinned copper or brass containers, containers of aluminium
or plastic not conforming to ISI specifications, etc., in preparation of food, is also
prohibited. Besides, certain special conditions for sale of certain articles such as
asafoetida, salseed fat, lactic acid, edible oils, katha, margarine, milk powder, etc. have
also been laid down.

With effect from 22.2.95, on person shall sell powdered spices except in packed form. No
person shall sell or serve food in any commercial establishment in plastic articles used in
catering and cutlery, unless the plastic material used in catering and cutlery articles,
conform to the food grade plastic.

PURCHASER MAY HAVE FOOD ANALYSED

A purchaser of any article of food, or a recognised consumer association, may also get an
article of food analysed by the public analyst on payment of the prescribed fees, provided
that the vendor is informed of this intended action at the time of purchase. Thereafter, the
purchaser or the consumer associations, have to follow the same procedure as discussed
above in the case of Food Inspectors. If the article of food is found to be adulterated, the
fees paid by the purchaser or the association shall be refunded
OFFENCES AND PENALTIES

Import, manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of any food article which is adulterated
by allowing its quality or purity to fall below the prescribed standard, or is misbranded,
or in contravention of any provision of the Act or Rules. Penalty is minimum
imprisonment of six months that may extend upto 3 years and minimum fine of Rs 1000.

Import, manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of any adulterant not injurious to health.
Penalty is minimum imprisonment of six months that may extend upto 3 years and
minimum fine of Rs 1000

Preventing a Food Inspector from taking a sample or exercising his powers.Penalty is

minimum imprisonment of six months that may extend upto 3 years and minimum fine of
Rs 1000
Giving a false warranty in writing in respect of any food article. Penalty is minimum
imprisonment of six months that may extend upto 3 years and minimum fine of Rs 1000

Import, manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of any food article which is adulterated
within the meaning of any of the sub-clauses(e) to (l) of section 2(ia); or any adulterant
which is injurious to health. Penalty is minimum imprisonment of one year that may
extend upto 6 years and minimum fine of Rs 2000

Sale or distribution of any food article containing any poisonous or other ingredient
injurious to health, which is likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm. Penalty is
minimum imprisonment of three years that may extend upto life and minimum fine of Rs
5000

PUNISHMENT
Whoever adulterates any food or drinks intended for sale shall be punished with
imprisonment which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to
one thousand rupees, or both.
Besides the CRPC the Food Adulteration Act, makes provisions for the
prevention of adulteration of food. Food inspectors appointed by the Central and
State Governments are empowered to take samples from any person selling,
conveying or delivering such article to a purchaser or consignee, and from a
consignee after receiving delivery, and send such sample to the public analyst.
A purchaser of any article of food, or a recognised consumer association, may
also get an article of food analysed by the public analyst on payment of the
prescribed fees, provided that the vendor is informed of this intended action at
the time of purchase. Thereafter, the purchaser or the consumer associations,
have to follow the same procedure as discussed above in the case of Food
Inspectors. If the article of food is found to be adulterated, the fees paid by the
purchaser or the association shall be refunded.
Import, manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of any food article which is
adulterated by allowing its quality or purity to fall below the prescribed standard,
or is misbranded, or in contravention of any provision of the Act or Rules. Penalty
is minimum imprisonment of six months that may extend upto 3 years and
minimum fine of Rs 1000 under the Food Adulteration Act.
272. Adulteration of food or drink intended for sale
Whoever adulterates any article of food or drink, so as to make such article noxious as
food or drink, intending to sell such article as food or drink, or knowing it to be likely
that the same will be sold as food or drink, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to
one thousand rupees, or with both.

STATE AMENDMENTS

State of Uttar Pradesh:

In sections 272, 273, 274, 275 and 276 for the words "shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with
fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both" the following shall be
substituted, namely:-

"shall be punished with imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine:

Provided that the court may, for adequate reason to be mentioned in the judgement,
impose a sentence of imprisonment which is less than imprisonment tot- life."

[Vide U.P. Act No. 47 of 1975].

State of West Bengal:

In its application to the State of West Bengal in sections 272, 273, 274, 275 and 276 for
the words "of either description tot, a term which may extend to six months, or with fine
which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both" the following shall be
substituted, namely:-

"for life with or without fine:

Provided that the Court may, for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the
judgment. impose a sentence of imprisonment which is less than imprisonment for life."

[Vide: W.B. Act No. 42 of 1973, w.e.f. 29th. April, 1973].

273. Sale of noxious food or drink

Whoever sells, or offers or exposes for sale, as food or drink, any article which has been
rendered or has become noxious, or is in a state unfit for food or drink, knowing or
having reason to believe that the same is noxious as food or drink, shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with
fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

274. Adulteration of drugs

Whoever adulterates any drug or medical preparation in such a manner as to lessen the
efficacy or change the operation of such drug or medical preparation, or to make it
noxious, intending that it shall be sold or used for, or knowing it to be likely that it will
be sold or used for, any medical purpose, as if it had not undergone such adulteration,
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to
six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

275. Sale of adulterated drugs

Whoever, knowing any drug or medical preparation to have been adulterated in such a
manner as to lessen its efficacy, to change its operation, or to render it noxious, sells the
same, or offers or exposes it for sale, or issues it from any dispensary for medicinal
purposes as unadulterated, or causes it to be used for medicinal purposes by any person
not knowing of the adulteration, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to
one thousand rupees, or with both.

276. Sale of drug as a different drug or preparation

Whoever knowingly sells, or offers or exposes for sale, or issues from a dispensary for
medicinal purposes, any drug or medical preparation, as a different drug or medical
preparation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which
may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with
both.