It is a serious criminal offence to contaminate any goods with the intention of causing public alarm or anxiety, or causing economic loss.

The maximum penalty for this offence is 10 years imprisonment.

This offence includes interfering with both natural and manufactured goods, and is not limited to edible goods like fruits and vegetables.

The most well-known example of this type of offending was the needle contamination of strawberries in 2018.

Similarly, if you threaten to contaminate any goods or falsely cause others to believe that goods have been contaminated, the maximum penalty is also 10 years imprisonment.

If death or really serious injury is caused as a result of any food contamination or threats of food contamination, the maximum penalty increases to 25 years imprisonment.

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