Legal Definitions - foreign substance

A foreign substance is any material present in a body, organism, or object where it does not naturally belong or is not intended to be. Its defining characteristic is that it is out of place within its environment.

A foreign substance refers to any material or object discovered within a product, environment, or organism where it does not naturally belong or was not intended to be present.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a consumer opens a newly purchased, sealed box of breakfast cereal and finds a small, intact plastic toy that was not advertised as a prize or part of the product. The plastic toy is a foreign substance because it is an unintended and non-food item found within a food product, indicating a potential manufacturing or packaging issue.

• Consider a situation where a patient undergoes a routine medical examination, and an X-ray reveals a small, non-absorbable surgical clip that was inadvertently left inside their body during a procedure performed several years prior. This surgical clip is a foreign substance because it is an object that should have been removed or was not intended to remain permanently within the patient's body after the surgery.

• Suppose a homeowner discovers an unusual, oily residue seeping into their basement from the ground outside, which laboratory tests later confirm to be a type of industrial chemical. This chemical is a foreign substance in the context of residential property and groundwater, as it does not naturally occur in that environment and indicates contamination that could pose a hazard.