Can A Person Be Punished For Selling Noxious Food Or Drink?
What Is A Noxious Food or Drink?
The word “noxious” when referring to food means food that is unwholesome or injurious to health, unfit for human consumption.
So Is Stale Or Rotten Food Termed As Noxious Foods?
Whether a stale food be concluded as completely unfit for human consumption totally depends on the type and state of the food.
For example- Eating half-a-day-old stale food that is not spoiled, which means, it’s just not recently cooked fresh, is consumed by many on a daily basis. However, some stale foods leave a bad smell or a bad taste because of rancidity that isn’t fit for consumption.
What Is Rancidity?
Rancidity is a process of complete or incomplete oxidation or hydrolysis of fats and oils when exposed to light, air or moisture or by bacterial action that makes the food unpleasant in taste and smell.
Oxidation is the loss of electrons during a reaction by a molecule, atom, or ion.
Hydrolysis is a process of chemical breakdown of a compound due to a reaction with water.
Rotten food refers to food that’s either spoiled or decomposing that can be terrible for human consumption.
The Law-
Section 275 of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 clearly states if a person is found to sell 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 up to six months, or with a fine of five thousand rupees, or with both.