The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (1954)

The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (India) affects decisions of companies manufacturing food products in respect of more than one element of the marketing mix, viz. production, promotion and distribution. The provisions of the Act as they affect these component have been discussed here.

The objective of the Act is to protect the health of the public by prohibiting adulteration of food articles. The Act prohibits the production, storage, distribution and sale of adulterated and misbranded food articles and ensures purity in the articles of food.

An adulterated food article is one which is injurious to public health when:

·         the 'product quality is not as demanded or claimed.

·         it contains an injurious substance.

·        any constituent of the article has either been substituted by inferior substance or been taken away it had been prepared, packed, or kept under insanitary conditions.

·        it is unifit for human consumption because it is filthy, putrid, rotten, decomposed, insect infested, etc.

·         it is poisonous or deleterious

·         it is obtained from a deceased animal

·         it contains colouring matter other than that prescribed

·         it contains a prohibited preservative

·         its quality or purity falls below the prescribed standards.  

A misbranded product, on the other hand, is one, which:

·         is a deceptive imitation of or resembles an existing product

·         is falsely stated to be a product of another place or country

·         is sold by a name belonging to another article of food

·         is so coloured, flavoured etc., that the article is made to appear of greater value than it really is

·         makes false claims

·         does not show clearly on the package the name and address of the manufacturer, and its contents

·         bears any false or misleading information regarding its contents

·         bears on the package or the label the name of a fictitious producer of the article

·         contains any artificial flavouring, colouring, etc. without stating that fact

·         is not labelled in accordance with the requirements of this Act.