Poultry feed premixes with vitamins and carriers classified as animal feed preparations, not vitamins, under Customs Tariff heading 2309.

Imported poultry feed premix products containing vitamins, pro-vitamins, amino acids, stabilisers and carriers were held to be compound preparations customised for poultry feeding rather than vitamins of general use. Applying the HSN Explanatory Notes, the ruling treated premixes with carriers that ensure homogeneous dispersion in feed as animal feed preparations under heading 2309, while heading 2936 was confined to vitamins and their stabilised forms where additives serve only preservation or transport. Because the carriers and other ingredients were integral to the specific feed function, the goods were classified under CTI 2309 90 90 and not under heading 2936.

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Issues: Whether the imported poultry feed premix products, containing vitamins, pro-vitamins, amino acids, stabilisers and carriers, are classifiable under heading 2309 as preparations of a kind used in animal feeding or under heading 2936 as provitamins and vitamins.

Analysis: The products were found, on the basis of their composition, manufacturing process, declared end-use and technical literature, to be compound preparations customised for poultry feeding and not vitamins of general use. The HSN Explanatory Notes to heading 2309 include premixes used for making complete or supplementary animal feeds, particularly where active ingredients are combined with carriers to secure homogeneous dispersion in feed. The notes to heading 2936 cover vitamins and their stabilised forms only where additives are for preservation or transport and do not render the product specially suitable for a specific use. Here, the carriers and other ingredients were not merely preservative or transport aids but were integral to the product's specific function in poultry feed. The classification was also supported by the cited circulars and precedents recognising feed premixes containing vitamins and amino acids as animal feed preparations.

Conclusion: The goods are classifiable under Customs Tariff Heading 2309, more specifically under CTI 2309 90 90, and not under heading 2936.

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