People v. Castro
People v. Castro
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The appellant was convicted of the crime of adulteration of milk and sentenced to pay a fine of $25 under the charge that “he had in his possession and control and transported cow’s milk which he offered and had for sale for human consumption, which was adulterated with water added artificially.”
The two assignments on appeal challenge the sufficiency of the evidence.
In addition to the fact of the adulteration by 19 per cent of water added artificially — which was stipulated — the evidence for the People which consisted of the testimony of José Yeyo Rojas, Inspector of the Department of Health, is substantially the same as that for the defense, which consists of the testimony of the defendant himself. It is, briefly, as follows: “The appellant worked as a driver transporting milk for the Caribbean Dairy, Inc., a pasteurizing
We need not examine here the cases of People v. Cedrés, 41 P.R.R. 112, and People v. Vidal, 44 P.R.R. 502, cited by appellant, and that of People v. Cotis, 50 P.R.R. 464, cited by the prosecuting attorney. In view of the facts of this case, we cannot agree with the prosecuting attorney that the evidence is sufficient to prove that the milk was transported by defendant for human consumption — admitting, as did that officer, that the defendant neither offered it nor had it for sale — for, knowing the destination of the milk, the Caribbean Dairy pasteurization plant, as well as the pasteurization process to which it is subjected before selling it to the public, the immediate purpose of the transportation — when the milk was taken from appellant — was not for human consumption. The process of pasteurization consisting of the heating of the milk to a temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit and holding it at that temperature for 30 minutes, cooling it rapidly for the purposé of destroying pathogenic organisms — germs, bacteria and' other substances that, might
The judgment is reversed and the defendant acquitted.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.