BENGAL FOOD ADULTERATION ACT, 1919

Act No. 06 of 1919

30th July, 1919

An Act to make provision for the prevention of adulteration of food in Bengal. Whereas it is expedient to make provisions for the prevention of adulteration of food in Bengal; It is hereby enacted as follows:1 1. For Statement of Objects and Reasons, see the Calcutta Gazette of 1918, Pt. IV, page 179, and for proceedings in Council, see ibid, Pt. IVA, pages. 1027-1030, and see the Calcutta Gazette of 1919, Pt. IVA, pages 146-148, 518-520 and 983-994. This Act is to be deemed as repealed in the area added to Calcutta by the Calcutta Municipal Act, 1923 (Ben. Act III of 1923), sec. 2(2)(b). For the Sale of Food and Drugs and for Milk Supply in Calcutta, see the Calcutta Municipal Act, 1951 (West Ben. Act XXXIII of 1951), Chapters XXVIII and XXIX.

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S.1 Short title and local extent

(1) This Act may be called the Bengal Food Adulteration Act, 1919,

(2) This section shall extend to the whole of 1[West Bengal] except Calcutta as defined in clause (7) of section 3 of the Calcutta Municipal Act, 18992; and the 3[State Government] may, after previous publication, by notification in the 4[Official Gazette], extend all or any of the other sections of this Act to any local area outside Calcutta in 1[West Bengal.]

(3) The 5[State Government] in extending all or any of the sections of this Act, as provided in sub-section (2), may extend the same in respect of all articles of food or may limit the operation of the section or sections extended to any specified article of food.

1. Those words were substituted for the word "Bengal" by paragraph (2) of Article 3 of the Indian Independence (Adaptation of Bengal and Punjab Acts) Order, 1948.

2. Bengal Act III of 1899 was

S.2 Definitions

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,--

• (1) an article of food shall be deemed to be "adulterated" if it has been mixed or packed with any other substance, or if any part of it has been abstracted so as in either case to affect injuriously its quality, sub-stance or nature;
• (2) "food" includes every article used for food or drink by man, other than drugs or water, and any article which ordinarily enters into or is used in the composition or preparation of human food; and also includes flavouring matters and condiments;
• (3) "local area" means any area, urban or rural, declared by the 1[State Government] by notification in the 2[Official Gazette] to be a local area for the purposes of this Act;
• (4) "local authority" means--
  • (i) in the case of any Municipality, the Municipal Commissioners;
  • (ii) in the case of a Cantonment, the Cantonment Authority; and
  
  

S.3 Power of State Government or local authority to appoint public analyst

The 1[State Government], or a local authority with the approval of the 1[State Government], may appoint a person to be the public analyst for any area under their control, and such appointment shall be notified in the 2[Official Gazette].

1. See foot-note 4 on page 605, ante.

2. See foot-note 5 on page 605 ante.

S.4 Power of State Government to declare normal constituents of any article of food

The 1[State Government] may declare the normal constituents of any article of food and may determine, by rules in this behalf, what deficiency in any of these constituents, or what addition of extraneous matters or proportion of water in a sample of any article of food, shall, for the purposes of this Act, raise a presumption until the contrary is proved that the article of food is not genuine or is injurious to health; and a public analyst shall have regard to such rules in certifying the result of any analysis under this Act.

1. See foot-note 4 on page 605 ante.

S.5 Prohibition of sale, etc., of food not of the proper nature, substance or quality

(1) No person shall, directly or indirectly, himself or by any other person on his behalf, sell to the prejudice of the purchaser any article of food which is not of the nature, substance or quality of the article demanded by such purchasers; and no person shall, directly or indirectly, himself or by any other person on his behalf, manufacture for sale any article of food which is not of the nature, substance or quality which it purports' or is represented to be:

Provided that an offence shall not be deemed to be committed under this section in the following cases, that is to say:--

• (a) where any matter or ingredient not injurious to health has been added to any article of food because the same is required for the production or preparation thereof as an article of commerce, in a state fit for carriage or consumption and not fraudulently to increase the bulk, weight or measure of the article or to conceal the inferior quality thereof; or
• (b) where any ar
  

S.6 Prohibition of sale, etc., of articles of food which are not of the prescribed standard of purity

(1) No person shall, directly or indirectly, himself or by any other person on his behalf, sell, expose for sale or manufacture or store for sale, any of the following articles, namely:--

• (a) milk 1* * *,
• (b) butter,
• (c) ghee,
• (d) wheat flour,
• (e) mustard oil, and
• (f) any other article of food which may be notified by the 2[State Government] in this behalf,

unless the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:--

• (i) in the case of milk (other than condensed, sterilized or desiccated milk in hermetically closed receptacles), the animal from which the milk is derived shall be definitely stated in such manner as the local authority may, by general or special order, require, and the article sold, exposed for sale or stored for sale, as the case may be, shall be the natural secretion from the udder of such animal, from which no ingredient has been extracted and to which no water o
  

S.7 Prohibition of adulterants in places where ghee, wheat, flour, etc, are manufactured

(1) No person shall keep or permit to be kept in any manufactory, shop or place, in which butter, ghee, wheat flour, mustard oil or any article notified by the 1[State Government] under clause (f) of sub-section (1) of section 6 is manufactured, any substance intended to be used for the adulteration of such butter, ghee, wheat flour, mustard oil or other article.

(2) If any article capable of being so used is found in such manufactory, shop or place, the Court shall, unless and until the contrary is proved, presume in any prosecution under this section that it is intended to be used for the purposes of adulteration.

1. See foot-note 4 on page 605, ante.

S.8 SECTION 8 [Receptacles for separated or skimmed condensed milk to be marked.]

--Rep. by sec. 3 of the Bengal Food Adulteration (Amendment) Act, 1930 (Ben. Act. V of 1930).

S.9 Power of purchaser to have article of food analysed

Any purchaser of an article of food shall be entitled, on payment of such fee as the 1[State Government] may prescribe, to have such article analysed by the public analyst appointed for the area within which such article is purchased and to receive from him a certificate, in the form prescribed in the schedule to this Act, of the result of his analysis.

1. See foot-note 4 on page 605, ante.

S.10 Compulsory sale of food, etc., for purpose of analysis

(1) Any person duly authorised by the 1[State Government] or by any local authority empowered by the 1[State Government] in this behalf, may require, on tendering the price for it, the sale to him during the process of manufacture, for the purpose of analysis, of such quantity of--

• (i) any food, or
• (ii) any ingredients used in the manufacture of food, as is reasonably requisite for division and disposal under section 11; and any person in possession of the said food or ingredients shall be bound to sell such quantity.

(2) Any person duly authorised by the 1[State Government] or by any local authority empowered by the 1[State Government] in this behalf, may also require the surrender to himself, for the purpose of analysis, of such quantity as is reasonably requisite for division and disposal under section 11, of any food which for the purpose of sale is--

• (a) in course of transit in any loc