GENERAL PROVISIONS AS TO FOOD

sunandaC

Sunanda K. Chavan
Prohibition of import of certain articles of food —

No person shall import into India—

(i) any adulterated food;

(ii) any misbranded food;

(iii) any article of food for the import of which a licence is prescribed, except in accordance with the conditions of the licence ; and

(iv) any article of food in contravention of any other provision of this Act or of any rule made thereunder.


Application of law relating to sea customs and powers of Customs Officers —

(1) The law for the time being in force relating to sea customs and to goods, the import of which is prohibited by section 18 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 (8 of 1878), shall, subject to the provisions of section 16 of this Act, apply in respect of articles of food, the import of which is prohibited under section 5 of this Act, and officers of Customs and officers empowered under that Act to perform the duties imposed thereby on a Customs Collector and other officers of Customs shall have the same powers in respect of such articles of food as they have for the time being in respect of such goods as aforesaid.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1) the Customs Collector, or any officer of the Government authorised by the Central Government in this behalf, may detain any imported package which he suspects to contain any article of food the import of which is prohibited under section 5 of this Act and shall forthwith report such detention to the Director of the Central Food Laboratory and, if required by him, forward the package or send samples of any suspected article of food found therein to the said Laboratory.

Prohibitions of manufacture, sale, etc., of certain articles of food —

No person shall himself or by any person on his behalf manufacture for sale, or store, sell or distribute—

(i) any adulterated food;

(ii) any misbranded food;

(iii) any article of food for the sale of which a licence is prescribed, except in accordance with the conditions of the licence;

(iv) any article of food the sale of which is for the time being prohibited by the Food (Health) Authority in the interest of public health;

(v) any article of food in contravention of any other provision of this Act or of any rule made thereunder; or

(vi) any adulterant.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, a person shall be deemed to store any adulterated food or misbranded food or any article of food referred to in clause (iii) or clause (iv) or clause (v) if he stores such food for the manufacture therefrom of any article of food for sale.


ANALYSIS OF FOOD

Public Analysts —

The Central Government or the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint such persons as it thinks fit, having the prescribed qualifications to be public analysts for such local areas as may be assigned to them by the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be:

Provided that no person who has any financial interest in the manufacture, import or sale of any article or food shall be appointed to be a public analyst under this section:

Provided further that different public analysts may be appointed for different articles of food.

COMMENTS

Section 8 postulates that it is open to the State Government to appoint more than one Public Analyst to any local area or areas and both would co-exist to have power and jurisdiction to analyse an article or articles of food covered under the Act to find out whether the same is adulterated; State of U.P. v. Hanif, AIR 1992 SC 1121.
 
Back
Top