Legal Definitions - adulterate

To adulterate something means to debase it, make it impure, or reduce its quality by adding a foreign, inferior, or improper substance. This act often involves an element of deception, as the altered product is typically presented as if it were still its original, uncompromised form.

• Example 1: Food Products

  A company markets and sells "100% Pure Olive Oil," but laboratory tests reveal that the product has been mixed with a significant percentage of a much cheaper vegetable oil, such as soybean oil. The soybean oil is a foreign and inferior substance added to the olive oil, thereby debasing its purity and quality. This act makes the olive oil an adulterated product.

• Example 2: Pharmaceuticals

  A dishonest supplier of prescription drugs takes a batch of a legitimate medication and mixes it with an inert, non-medicinal powder to increase the overall volume. They then sell this diluted mixture as if it were the full-strength drug. By adding the inactive powder, the medication's intended potency and purity are compromised, making it less effective for patients. This dilution constitutes adulteration of the pharmaceutical product.

• Example 3: Consumer Goods

  A manufacturer produces a line of "premium leather" handbags, but to cut costs, they blend genuine leather scraps with synthetic materials and then bond them together, treating the surface to resemble full-grain leather. Selling these bags as "premium leather" when they contain significant amounts of non-leather components means the product has been adulterated, as its advertised quality and composition have been debased by the inclusion of inferior or foreign materials.