New Delhi, June 8 (IANS): Adulteration of food is a menace to public health and adulterators are a serious risk to the society, a court here ruled while sentencing three men to one-year jail in two separate food adulteration cases.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Rao's remarks came in his two different judgments delivered last week. He awarded one-year jail terms to three men -- Yash Pal Aggarwal, Surender Kumar and Mangey Ram -- convicted for selling adulterated food items.

Observing that the offence under which the accused have been convicted was serious in nature, the court slapped Aggarwal and Kumar with Rs.25,000 fine each while Ram was fined Rs.10,000.

"Adulteration of food is a menace to public health," the magistrate said in his order released on Monday.

"The prevention of food adulteration act has been enacted with the aim of eradicating that anti-social evil and for ensuring purity in the article of food," the court said.

"The aim of the act is to protect the citizens from those who in the guise of respectable trades jeopardise the health and the well-being of innocent customers."

It added that the adulterators were a serious risk to the society.

Aggarwal, a proprietor of Aggarwal Sweets in Nehru Nagar, south Delhi, with Kumar, the shop's manager, were facing trial for selling adulterated 'Boondi ka ladoo' while Ram, proprietor of another shop Aggarwal Sweets in Patel Nagar in central Delhi, was accused of selling cheese not matching the prescribed standards.

A case was registered against Aggarwal and Kumar in November 2009 while the complaint against Ram was registered in October 2006.