By RAY STERN
Disgusting food or drink challenges like putting licked ice cream back in a store freezer could result in jail time for some people in Arizona following Governor Doug Ducey’s signing on Thursday of a new anti-tampering law.
State Senator T.J. Shope said last year when he introduced a similar bill that existing statutes made it difficult to prosecute people for contaminating store food or drink.
That proposal didn’t make it, but this year’s version found bipartisan support. The bill, SB 1167, passed with two-thirds support in the Senate and nearly unanimous support in the House of 56-3, with one member not voting.
The new law makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to intentionally introduce, add or mingle “any bodily fluid or foreign object not intended for human consumption with water, food, or drink.” That’s if a person actually consumes the produce or the damage of the contamination is at least $1,000.
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If nobody consumes the contaminated produce and the damage is less than $1,000, it’s still a Class 2 misdemeanor with the potential for four months in jail and a $750 fine.
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