(a) "Food" means fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, eggs, dairy products and other natural and processed products offered for sale for human or animal consumption.

(b) "Irradiated food" means any food treated with ionizing radiation from radioactive sources, X-rays, or electron beams and includes any food which contains an ingredient that has been irradiated; provided, however, that if the irradiated ingredients of any food consist solely of spices which have been so treated, such food shall not be deemed an irradiated food on account of such irradiated spices. 2. Sale of irradiated food prohibited; exception. It shall be unlawful for any merchant, broker or processor to knowingly sell, offer for sale or expose for sale an irradiated food except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, whether or not such food is deemed to be adulterated under the provisions of subdivision six-a of section two hundred of this article. It shall not be unlawful under this subdivision for any merchant, broker or processor to knowingly sell, offer for sale or expose for sale an irradiated food to a general hospital for use as part of a medical regimen in the care or treatment of persons with immune system deficiency or other disease, provided the irradiated food is packaged with or accompanied by a warning label that it is intended for hospital use only by such persons. 3. Penalties. (a) Any person violating any provision of this article shall be subject to a penalty in the sum of not less than two hundred dollars and not more than ten thousand dollars; provided, however, that for a violation by a retail merchant the penalty shall be not less than fifty dollars and shall not exceed five hundred dollars.

(b) For the purposes of this section, each day on which an irradiated food is unlawfully offered or exposed for sale or exchange shall constitute a separate violation.

(c) For the purposes of this section, the unlawful offer for sale or exchange of a group of identical consumer commodities shall constitute but a single violation, and the unlawful offer for sale or exchange of different groups of identical consumer commodities shall constitute a separate violation for each group. 4. Applicability. The provisions of this section shall not apply to irradiated foods purchased prior to the effective date of this section. 5. Effectiveness. The provisions of this section shall be of no force or effect on and after September first, nineteen hundred ninety-five. * NB Expired September 1, 1995