By Wissam Mekhem | Arizona Mirror
A viral social media trend last summer — people posting images of themselves opening and licking ice cream before putting it back on the shelf — did not sit well with state Rep. T.J. Shope.
The Republican from Coolidge has introduced a bill that makes such an action a crime, punishable with up to six months in jail.
House Bill 2299 prohibits and establishes penalties for intentionally introducing, adding or mingling any bodily fluid or foreign object not intended for human consumption.
Shope said he introduced the legislation after seeing a ton of videos online of teenagers tampering with products in grocery stores. He added that he spoke to people in the restaurant, retail and food industries who all asked for such a law to be introduced. Shope’s family owns a grocery store in Coolidge.
