Food adulteration law: insect infestation includes dead insects, but unfitness for human consumption must still be proved.

Insect-infested under section 2(i)(f) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 covers food affected by dead as well as living insects, because the statutory focus is the condition of the food and its ordinary meaning in light of the Act's purpose. Mere proof of infestation is not conclusive of adulteration in every case; where no minimum purity standard is prescribed, the nature, degree, and extent of infestation, together with the total evidence, must show that the article is unfit for human consumption. The High Court's interpretation was reversed, but the acquittal was not disturbed on the record.

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Issues: (i) Whether the expression "insect-infested" in section 2(i)(f) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 includes infestation by dead insects as well as living insects; (ii) whether proof of insect-infestation by itself is sufficient to establish adulteration, or whether it must also be shown that the article is unfit for human consumption.

Issue (i): Whether the expression "insect-infested" in section 2(i)(f) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 includes infestation by dead insects as well as living insects.

Analysis: The expression was construed in the context of food intended for human consumption. It was held that the word is not confined to the presence of living insects, because food attacked by insects may remain insect-infested even after the insects die. The ordinary meaning of the expression, read with the object of the statute, supports a wider construction that focuses on the condition of the food and not merely on the life-status of the insects.

Conclusion: The expression "insect-infested" includes infestation by dead insects as well as living insects.

Issue (ii): Whether proof of insect-infestation by itself is sufficient to establish adulteration, or whether it must also be shown that the article is unfit for human consumption.

Analysis: Section 2(i)(f) was read as requiring that the article be unfit for human consumption. The descriptive words in the clause were treated as furnishing a presumption of unfitness, but not as an absolute or conclusive test in every case. Where no minimum standard of purity is prescribed for the article, the nature, degree, and extent of the infestation must be assessed, and the Public Analyst's report is admissible as evidence but is not conclusive. The court must ultimately decide on the totality of the evidence whether the article is unfit for human consumption.

Conclusion: Mere proof of insect-infestation is not enough in every case; unfitness for human consumption must be established on the evidence.

Final Conclusion: The legal interpretation adopted by the High Court on the meaning of "insect-infested" was reversed, but the conviction was not restored because the record did not justify disturbing the acquittal.

Ratio Decidendi: Under section 2(i)(f) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, insect-infestation may include dead insects, but an article is adulterated only when the infestation, on the evidence as a whole, renders it unfit for human consumption.

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