New Delhi April 30 (IANS): A court here Wednesday came down heavily on food adulteration terming it a menace to public health while sentencing a senior citizen to 18 months jail for mixing synthetic colour with pulses.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Rao said: "Adulteration of food is a menace to public health," as he convicted and sentenced 66-year-old Satya Prakash Jain under various sections of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.
Jain was also slapped with a fine of Rs.10,000.
Jain was charged with selling arhar dal (pulse) adulterated with synthetic colour tartrazine in August 2004.
"The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act has been enacted with the aim of eradicating the anti-social evil and for ensuring purity in articles of food," the court observed.
It added that the aim of the act is to protect citizens from those who in the guise of respectable trades jeopardize the health and the well-being of innocent customers.
"The adulterators are a serious risk to the society," the judge said.