1. This First Appeal under Section-71(6) of the Food Safety And Standard Act 2006 [for short the Act, 2006] is directed against the order dated 01.05.2018 passed by the Presiding Officer, Food Safety Appellate Tribunal, State of Gujarat, Gandhinagar in Appeal No. 43 of 2017 arising from the order dated 13.02.2017 passed by the Adjudicating Officer And Resident Additional Collector, Surat under the Provisions of the Food Safety And Standards Act, 2006 and the Regulations 2011 made thereunder.

2. The facts giving rise to this First Appeal under Section-71(6) of the Act 2006 may be summarized as under:-

“2.1 It is submitted that appellants are manufacturers of farsans in the name of M/s. Jagdish Farsan Mart at Bharuch.

2.2 It is submitted that Complaint officer took sample on 29.03.2016 from the Kharodiya Super Store, a Seller of the appeal's farsan, of "Super Jagdish Chavana 500 gms Co. Pack Batch No. 3, Packing Date 3/16 under the Food Safety and Standard Act 2006 (Herein after referred as "Food Act").

2.3 It is submitted that the sample was sent for analysis to Food Analyst, Bhuj and the said analyst by his report dated 19.04.2016 declared the sample as "Mis-branded" on the ground that "The sample of Jagdish chavana (500 gms) pack is misbranded food as defined u/s. 3(1)(zf) of the Food Act, as it contravenes the provisions made under regulation No. 2.2.2(9) of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labeling) Regulations, 2011 (herein after referred as "Food Regulations").

2.4 Therefore, a complaint was registered u/s.52 for contravention of the Section 23(1), 26(1), 26(2)(ii), 27(1) of the food act. The said complaint was registered as Adjudication Case No. 31/16 before Ld. Adjudication Officer and Resident Addl. Collector, Surat.

2.5 After the inquiry, the said Ld. Adjudication Officer was pleased to pass an order dated 13.02.2017 declaring the appellants guilty and imposed penalty of Rs. 50,000/- each to all appellants.

2.6 The said order was challenged by the appellants by filing Appeal No. 43 of 2017 before Food Safety Tribunal. The said appeal has been partly allowed by tribunal by order dated 01.05.18 whereby the penalty imposed on appellants are modified to the extent that instead of penalty of Rs. 50,000/- each to the appellants, it is modified to joint penalty of Rs. 50,000/- to appellants. The appellants challenges the said impugned orders dated 01.05.18 before this Hon'ble Court, by way of present appeal.”

3. It appears from the materials on record that the Adjudicating Officer imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000/- to be paid not only by the Partnership Firm, but all upon the two partners of the Firm for the alleged contravention of the Regulations 2011. The case on hand is one of misbranded food. It is not in dispute that on the package of the food collected by the authority concerned as a sample, the date of manufacture is not stated. It is also not in dispute that on the package, it has been stated that the food should be consumed within a period of three months.

4. The report of the Food Analyst dated 19.04.2016 is extracted hereunder:-

				Report No. Q­2/0144/2016
	FORM B
	Report of the Food Analyst
	(Refer Regulation (ii) of 2.3.1)
To, Designated Officer, Food And Drugs Control Admn., Surat Circle		No. RFL/AR/2304/2016 Regional Food Laboratory, Bhuj Reg. Entry No. 0742 Date: 19 APR 2016
Certified that I Mr. P.H. Bhagora duly appointed as Food Analyst under the provision of the Food Safety & Standards Act 2006 (34 of 2006) For Gujarat State received from Mr. C.N. Parmar Food Safety Officer, F & DCA, Surat Circle a sample of Super Jagdish Chavana (500 Gms Pack) bearing Code No. and serial No. 5/FDA/SRT/HQ/3/32/2016 of Designated Officer, of Surat area on 07th April 2016 for anal