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TMI Blog1952 (5) TMI 9X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... everything which enters into the composition of food so as to make it palatable may be described as 'foodstuff', but that word is commonly used with reference only to those articles which are eaten for their nutritive value and which form the principal ingredients of cooked or uncooked meal, such as wheat, rice, meat, fish, milk, bread, butter, etc. It seems to me desirable that the Act Should be amended so as to expressly include within the definition of the somewhat elastic expression "foodstuff" turmeric and such other condiments as the Legislature intends to be treated as' such for achieving the objects in its view. BOSE J.--The question in this case is whether turmeric is a "foodstuff" within the meaning of clause 3 of the Spices (Forward Contracts Prohibition) Order, 1944, read with section 2 (a) of the Essential Supplies (Temporary Powers) Act, 1946, (Act XXIV of 1946). The respondent was charged with having contravened clause 3 of the Order of 1944 because he entered into a forward contract in turmeric at Sangli on the 18th of March, 1950, in contravention of clause 3 of the Order. He was convicted by the trial Court and sentenced to three months' simple imprisonment toge ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Ordinance in all material particulars and it is conceded that if the matter falls under the Ordinance it will also fall under the Act. The appellant's contention is that turmeric is a food- stuff, therefore the Order of 1944 is saved. The respondent's contention is that turmeric is not a foodstuff. He contends that the Order of 1944 was limited to spices and that turmeric was included in the term by reason of a special definition which specifically included it; and as the Act of 1946 and the Ordinance are limited to "food stuffs" the Order of 1944 dealing with turmeric was not saved. The question therefore is, is turmeric a "foodstuff"? Much learned judicial thought has been expended upon this problem--what is and what is not food and what is and what is not a foodstuff; and the only conclusion I can draw from a careful consideration of all the available material is that the term "foodstuff" is ambiguous. In one sense it has a narrow meaning and is limited to articles which are eaten as food for purposes of nutrition and nourishment and so would exclude condiments and spices such as yeast, salt, pepper, baking powder and turmeric. In a wider sense, it includes everything that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y more than one would think of separating in his mind the purely nutritive elements of what is eaten from their non-nutritive adjuncts. So also, looked at from another point of view, the various adjuncts of what I may term food proper which enter into its preparation for human consumption in order to make it palatable and nutritive, can hardly be separated from the purely nutritive elements if the effect of their absence would be to render the particular commodity in its finished state unsavoury and indigestible to a whole class of persons whose stomachs are accustomed to a more spicily prepared product. The proof of the pudding is, as it were, in the eating, and ii the effect of eating what would otherwise be palatable and digestible and therefore nutritive is to bring on indigestion to a stomach unaccustomed to to such unspiced fare, the answer must, I think, be that however nutritive a product may be in one form it can scarcely be classed as nutritive if the only result of eating it is to produce the opposite effect; and if the essence of the definition is the nutritive element, then the commodity in question must cease to befood, within the strict meaning of the definition, to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er consideration in those cases occurred in a war-time measure, namely a Proclamation promulgated on the 4th of August, 1914, the day on which the first world war started. There is authority for the view that war-time measures, which often have to be enacted hastily to meet a grave pressing national emergency in which the very existence of the State is at stake, should be construed more liberally. in favour of the Crown or the State than peace-time legislation. The only assistance I can derive from this case is that the term "foodstuffs" is wide enough to cover matter which would not normally fall within the definition of what I have called food proper. I do not think it is helpful in deciding whether the wider or the narrower definition should be employed here because the circumstances and background are so different. The next case to which I will refer is James v. Jones [1894] 1 Q,B. 304. That was a case of baking powder and it was held that baking powder is an article of food within the meaning of the English Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875. Now it has to be observed here that the object of that Act was to prevent the adulteration of food with ingredients which are injurious ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nnocent householders, who had no intention of breaking the law, would be trapped; and this seems to be the ratio decidendi in the decision of the Bombay High Court in Hublal Kamtaprasad v. Goel Bros. & Co. Ltd. (Appeal No. 14 of 1950) which is the decision virtually, though not directly, under appeal here, though the learned Judges also take into consideration two further facts, namely that the law should be construed in favour of the freedom of contracts and a penal enactment in favour of the subject. The English decision about tea just cited is to be contrasted with another decision, also about tea, given a few months later in the same year: Sainsbury v. Saunders 88 L.J.K.B. 441. Two of the Judges, Darling and Avory, JJ. were parties to the earlier decision; Salter J. was not. He held that though tea had been held in the earlier case not to be a "food" for the purpose of the Food Hoarding Order of 1917, it was a "food" within the meaning of the expressions used in certain Defence of the Realm Regulations read with the New Ministries and Secretaries Act of ,1916 which empowered the Food Controller to regulate "the food supply of the country" and the "supply and consumption and p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , may by notified order provide for regulating or prohibiting the production, supply and distribution thereof and trade and commerce therein." The Ordinance is in the same terms. Now I have no doubt that had the Central Government re- promulgated the Order of 1944 in 1946 after the passing of either the Ordinance of the Act of 1946, the Order would have been good. As we have seen, turmeric falls within the wider definition of "food" and "foodstuffs" given in a dictionary of international standing as well as in several English decisions. It is, I think, as much a "foodstuff", in its wider meaning, as sausage, skins and baking powder and tea. In the face of all that I. would find it difficult to hold that an article like turmeric cannot fall within the wider meaning of the term "foodstuffs". Had the Order of 1944 not specified turmeric and had it merely prohibited forward contracts in "foodstuffs" I would have held, in line with the earlier tea case, that that is not a proper way of penalising a man for trading in an article which would not ordinarily be considered as a foodstuff. But in the face of the order of 1944, which specifically includes turmeric, no one can complain that h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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