2006 (12) TMI 476

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....aring for the petitioner produced packing cover of the product, which shows that it is a product manufactured by Haldiram's, who are probably market leaders of the product. While the brand name of the product is "fresh and tasty golden mixture", the cover contains a description of the product as namkeens, a tasty treat, the cereal-based crispy snacks, machinepacked for freshness, the hand-picked spices. The packing cover is a double layer material with inside plastic and outside alumnium foil. Admittedly the product is sealed air-tight on either side and has colour print over it to make the pack look very attractive. The case of the petitioner is that the product is neither a food preparation nor is it packed in air-tight cont....

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.... in oil is a nutritive food serving all purposes of food. In fact, the manufacturers themselves sell it as a snack, which is certainly a food preparation. Therefore, we are unable to accept petitioner's contention that the snack item sold by the petitioner is not a food preparation and we, therefore, reject this contention. The next contention raised by counsel for the petitioner is that the item is not sold in air-tight containers. He has relied on the decision of this court reported in Bymore Food Products v. State of Kerala [2002] 126 STC 26, wherein this court held that pickles sold in glass bottles cannot be treated as an item sold in air-tight containers. It is to be noted that this court in that case found that pickle is preserv....