§5.3 ". . . shall be deemed adulterated . . ."

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Publication year: 2022

§5.3 ". . . shall be deemed adulterated . . ."

The phrase "shall be deemed adulterated" is not defined in the Act or even the '38 Act; referral back to pre-1906 food and drug laws may provide insight. Under common law, delivering food containing ingredients that may be injurious to health was deemed a misdemeanor.⁵⁵ Early statutes using the term "adulteration" or variations (i.e., "adulterated") indicated it occurred when articles were "inferior in strength and purity" to pharmacopoeia standards.⁵⁶ In a later statute, adulteration for foods was started to occur when a substance was mixed with the food to "reduce or lower or injuriously affect the quality or strength" of the food.⁵⁷

Intent of the defendant was at issue as guilt under misdemeanor required the defendant to have knowledge the ingredient would be injurious to health.⁵⁸ In statutes codifying common law and in the 1906 Food and Drug law, to be in violation of the statute, possessing knowledge of the adulteration was not a requirement. "Shall be deemed adulterated" may codify no need for knowledge to violate the statute. The mere fact that the article is in a certain condition leads to violation of the statute, whether or not the perpetrator knew of the condition.

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Notes:

^[55] See also, State v. Smith, 10 N.C. 203 (1824).

^[56] 9 Stat. L. 237 (1848); see also 25 Stat. L. 549...