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Food Law Casebook

Adulteration

The combination of the FDCA, FMIA, and PPIA prohibit the introduction of food that is adulterated. Like the term misbranded, adulterated is a legal term of art that corresponds only tangentially to the colloquial use of the term. Food is adulterated if (1) it contains a harmful substance posing a safety risk; it contains an added substance during production and exceeds acceptable levels; (3) it contains a substance that has been intentionally added to the food but has not been approved by an agency, or (4) it has been handled in unsanitary conditions that create a risk of contamination posing a safety risk.