Adulteration is a legal offence and when the food fails to meet the legal standards set by the government, it is said to have been Adulterated Food. One form of adulteration is an addition of another substance to a food item in order to increase the quantity of the food item in raw form or prepared form, which results in the loss of actual quality of food item. These substances may be either available food items or non-food items. Among meat and meat products some of the items used to adulterate are water or ice, carcasses, or carcasses of animals other than the animal meant to be consumed. In the case of seafood, adulteration may refer to species substitution (
mislabeling), which replaces the species identified on the product label with another species, or undisclosed processing methods, in which treatments such as additives, excessive glazing, or short-weighting are not disclosed to the consumer.
History
Historians have recognized cases of food adulteration in Ancient Rome and the Middle Ages. Contemporary accounts of adulteration date from the 1850s to the present day.
Legislative
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, the
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...
(FDA),
regulates and enforces laws on
food safety
Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from ...
as well as
Food Defense. The FDA provides some technical definitions of adulterated food in various United States laws.
*1906 (21 U.S.C. 601 et. seq.)
*1938
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
The United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (abbreviated as FFDCA, FDCA, or FD&C) is a set of laws passed by the United States Congress in 1938 giving authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the safety of ...
(21 U.S.C. 321 et seq.)
*1957
Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.)
*2011
Food Safety and Modernization Act
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act 1988) provides that food is "adulterated" if it meets any one of the following criteria:
*(1) it bears or contains any "
poisonous or