Criminal Code Amendment (Food Contamination) Act 2018 (98 of 2018)

Schedule 1   Amendments

Part 1   Contamination offences

Criminal Code Act 1995

15   After subsection 380.4(1) of the Criminal Code

Insert:

(1A) A person commits an offence if:

(a) the person makes a statement that the person believes to be false; and

(b) the person does so with the intention of inducing the person to whom the statement is made or others to believe that goods have been contaminated; and

(c) the person does so reckless as to:

(i) causing public alarm or anxiety in Australia; or

(ii) causing widespread, or nationally significant, economic loss in Australia through public awareness of the contamination, or possible contamination, of the goods; or

(iii) causing harm to, or creating a risk of harm to, public health in Australia.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years.