O R D E R

The petitioners are the accused Nos.1 and 2 in C.C No.45/2019 on the files of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Thrissur. The first petitioner is stated to be a food business operator who conducts the second petitioner firm, which is a hyper market functioning at Thrissur. The petitioners were booked by the Food Safety Officer, Thrissur Circle, for violation of Sections 27 , 59(1), 52 and 3(1)(zz)(v)(viii), 3.1(zf)(C)(i) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 , and Regulations 2.2.2:4 and 2.2.2:6 of Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011 .

2. The allegation against the petitioners is that the first petitioner stored unsafe and misbranded baby rusk for sale in the second petitioner hypermarket firm. The Food Safety Officer, Thrissur Circle is said to have inspected the second petitioner hypermarket firm and took the samples of packed baby rusk, which were found to be misbranded. The aforesaid baby rusk, upon analysis at the Regional Analytical Laboratory, Ernakulam, were found to have contained synthetic food colour, tartrazine, in contravention of Regulation 3.1.2:6 of Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations,