Biscuit manufacturing waste is not animal-feed preparation and cannot be classified as excisable residue under tariff heading 2301.00.

Floor sweepings and damaged biscuits generated during biscuit manufacture were treated as waste arising incidentally from the production process, not as a deliberate preparation for animal feeding. Although the material consisted of flour, maida, sugar, salt, dough and broken or burnt biscuit fragments, and fetched a price on sale, that did not by itself make it a manufactured excisable product. Reliance on HSN notes for preparations of a kind used in animal feeding was rejected as misplaced, and the material was not regarded as a residue of the food industry under Tariff Heading 2301.00. It was therefore not classifiable under that heading and not excisable on the basis suggested by the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether floor sweepings and damaged biscuits, being a mixture of flour, maida, sugar, salt, dough and burnt or broken biscuits collected from the manufacturing floor, were excisable goods classifiable under Tariff Heading 2301.00 as residues or preparations used in animal feeding.

Analysis: The product arose incidentally during biscuit manufacture, when dust, dough pieces, broken biscuits and over-baked or burnt biscuits fell on the floor and were merely swept up for removal. The essential character of the material was that of waste from the biscuit manufacturing process, not a deliberate preparation made for animal feeding. The fact that the material fetched a price did not make it a manufactured excisable product, and the revenue's reliance on the HSN notes relating to preparations of a kind used in animal feeding was held to be misplaced. The product was not treated as a residue of the food industry within the meaning of the relevant tariff heading.

Conclusion: The product was not classifiable under Tariff Heading 2301.00 and was not excisable on the footing suggested by the Revenue.

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