Food supplement classification prevails for vitamin and mineral preparations absent proof of medicinal market understanding.

A vitamin and mineral preparation described as "Ossidos" was treated as a food supplement rather than a patent or proprietary medicine because its composition, drug-authority certificate, trade understanding, and the absence of contrary expert evidence supported classification under the food tariff entry. The therapeutic character of some ingredients was not enough, as the Dy. Chief Chemist's report did not clearly establish that the product was a medicine. Trade parlance and commercial understanding, together with the Revenue's burden to prove the claimed medicinal classification, favoured treatment as food under the erstwhile Central Excise Tariff.

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Issues: Whether the product "Ossidos" was classifiable as a food product under Tariff Item 1B of the erstwhile Central Excise Tariff or as a patent or proprietary medicine under Tariff Item 14E.

Analysis: The product was held to be a food supplement on the combined strength of the evidence showing its composition, the Food and Drug Administration certificate stating that it did not fall within the purview of drugs, and the absence of any contrary expert evidence from the Revenue. The Dy. Chief Chemist's report noted therapeutic properties in certain ingredients, but did not categorically state that the product was a patent or proprietary medicine. The classification was guided by trade parlance, commercial understanding, and the principle that the burden to establish the claimed classification lay on the Revenue. Earlier decisions treating similar vitamin and mineral preparations as food supplements, including the decisions referred to on identical products and the approval of the approach in precedent cases, supported the assessee's claim.

Conclusion: The product "Ossidos" was classifiable under Tariff Item 1B and not under Tariff Item 14E; the appeal was allowed in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of proof by the Revenue that a vitamin and mineral preparation is marketed and understood as a medicine, and where the evidence shows it is treated by drug authorities and in trade as a food supplement, it is classifiable as food under the tariff entry rather than as a patent or proprietary medicine.

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