Is it assault if I send a pie with laxatives in it to a sworn enemy?
Legally an assault is defined as a physical contact event. Spitting on someone is an assault. Flicking a cigarette ash at someone is an assault, even if you miss.
Deliberately offering tainted food can be a crime. The ability to prove intent is a difficult hill to climb in many such cases. That's why sloppy restaurant managers can get away with it for so long.
Those people opening all the ice cream cartons, having a good lick, replacing on the shelf and putting their shenanigans on tictok for the fun of it were all guilty of criminal mischief involving deliberately contaminating a food product.
The courts have attempted to increase penalties for these criminally mischievous acts in the past few years due to the increasing number of them landing on their dockets.
You can probably get away with it, though. If you can find ipecac, that might be more fun, especially if you can watch them "YAK" and no more of a crime, technically.