Willfully Lacing Food

[IndieSinger]

I lived in university accommodation (still) and we have access to a shared fridge (accessed by about 30 people I would guess).

I've only ever bought seven meals for the fridge and every single one has always been immediately stolen.

So what's the legal situation regarding lacing food with laxatives? Someone told me it's could be a police matter (assault), but what if I put a note on the box saying, "WARNING - Laced with laxatives"?

Any other ideas? I can't talk to them all individually 'cause I don't know the 30-odd people. But I think it's wrong that they keep making me go without tea!

[KebabMeister]

Just put some mega hot chilli in there :)

[vinny200]

Shared fridge for 30 people!!That must be some mother of a fridge indiesinger;Why not get one of those mini fridges in your room ..

[Artemis]

Those mini-fridges are very good and could always be diguised as something else. Also you will always have cold beer and wine.

[woofgang]

how about a lock and lock box with a bike chain on it??

[Hgrove]

It is not a good idea to lace it with laxatives.  I am not 100 p.c. sure what the position would be if they "stole" the food and ate it but I definitely think it could turn nasty on you.  I am not sure about putting a notice on the food.  I mean, do you actually mean to lace the food with laxatives?  Because then you would not be able to eat it yourself - would you?  The mini fridge in your room seems the best idea.

[Trillipse]

indie - can you not have a word with the uni authorities? which uni are you at? this sort of thing went on when i was at uni (though there were fewer people sharing the fridge) - padlocks on fridges were introduced, and keycard systems eventually for access to blocks. otherwise, the mini-fridge might be an idea. i can fully understand your feelings though - there are some selfish ignorant thieving clueless ******** out there. if not laxatives, maybe something a little more lethal... good luck.

[Lillabet]

I would agree with earlier answers that putting something in food to deliberately harm someone is potentially a very risky thing to do.

If you're going to label the food as laced with laxatives it will probably put the thief off. It then leaves you with inedible food though.

When I was at uni one block that had a similar problem dealt with it in a fairly creative way. A couple of people went and bought a blackcurrant pie and two bottles of food colouring. The cooked the pie. Mixed the colouring in with the filling. Cut out a slice so it looked part eaten. Put the pie in the fridge. It was gone by the morning. This was reported to the uni authorities along with the presence of the food colouring. One resident was found to be strikingly purple about the mouth. He was unable to explain why else he should be bright purple and ended up compensating people for food stolen.

If you made someone ill you might feel you had got revenge but it wouldn't necessarily be constructive - after all they could claim that their being ill was a coincidence. In this case he was simply purple for the better part of a week. Also in terms of revenge many people found out he'd been stealing from other students - as people asked about the reason he was purple. He wasn't the most popular of people for a while after that.

[Guinevere]

Reminds me of a rather gross story involving a student fridge, a pot of plain yoghurt that had been used for a particular women's problem left in said fridge, and the theft of said yoghurt.  Notice was then left on fridge door to say what yoghurt had last been used for.

Nasty, but then so's stealing.

[LordyGeordie]

i always thought there was something strange about that yoghurt. still it didn't taste too bad, quite nice actually.

mmm...yeast!

[Xollob]

A friend at university told the tale of a shared fridge, a notorious pilferer and a Pedigree Chum pie. The others baked the pie, binned three quarters and left a tempting slice in the fridge for when the flatmate returned from the pub. As expected, the pie was stolen but the pie thief was too bladdered to notice!

Or how about cloves of garlic dipped in chocolate?

[secretspirit]

Tell you what, when I've had my baby you can tap me up for some breastmilk - that would soon put them off once they found what they'd stolen!!!!!

[Andy008]

From a legal perspective you can't be touched. Providing it is only laxative and nothing poisonous, what you do to your food is up to you.