Primary food import clearance turns on statutory adulteration tests, not a laboratory report alone.

Primary food may not be treated as prohibited for import merely because laboratory testing shows excess mineral matter or another prescribed constituent; the statutory scheme under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act requires the goods to satisfy the legal conditions for being deemed adulterated, and natural-cause exclusions must be considered. A laboratory report that does not conclude the goods are adulterated or deemed adulterated cannot by itself justify withholding customs clearance. The proper officer must act within the statute and cannot rely on advisory findings alone to impose a prohibition. On the facts stated, clearance could not be withheld and the goods were entitled to be released.

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Issues: Whether the customs authorities could withhold clearance of imported primary food solely on the basis of the central food laboratory report and advice, when the report did not conclude that the goods were adulterated or deemed to be adulterated under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954.

Analysis: Section 2(ia)(m) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 deems food adulterated where its quality or purity falls below the prescribed standard or its constituents exceed the prescribed limits, but a primary food is excluded from that consequence where the deficiency is due solely to natural causes beyond human control. Section 2(xiia) defines primary food, and section 5 prohibits import only of adulterated food and other specified prohibited articles. The laboratory had recorded excess mineral matter but had not opined that the goods should be deemed adulterated. On that basis, the laboratory could not advise prohibition of import, and the proper officer was required to act on the statutory scheme rather than treat the report as a prohibition.

Conclusion: The customs authorities could not withhold clearance on the facts found, and the petitioner was entitled to clearance of the goods.

Ratio Decidendi: Import of primary food cannot be refused merely because testing shows excess of a prescribed constituent unless the statutory requirements for treating it as adulterated are satisfied and a lawful prohibition on import exists.

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