1. The respondents in these two appeals have been acquitted by the District Magistrate of the offence under S.16(1)(a)(i) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. The charge against them was that they sold sugar adulterated with saccharin to the Food Inspector. The respondents were owners of tea shops; and they did not sell sugar as such in their shops. The District Magistrate has acquitted them on the ground that the sugar they sold to the Food Inspector was not meant to be sold, in other words, the respondents were not dealers in sugar.

2. Saccharin is not prohibited as an admixture in some articles of food. R.44 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules of 1955 prohibits the sale of certain mixtures. But, under clause (g) of the rule, any article of food, which contains any artificial sweetener except saccharin, alone is prohibited. R.47 prescribes that saccharin may be added to any food, if the container of such food is labelled with an adhesive declaratory label showing that it contains an admixture of saccharin.

3. Admittedly, what happened in these cases was that the Food Inspector went to the tea shops of the respondents and purchased samples of sugar from t