Bengaluru: A trader named Syed Ahammed will serve six months of simple imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs. 1,000 for selling 600 gm of adulterated coffee powder 14 years ago for Rs. 60 without the required labelling. According to sources, he is from Select Coffee Works at Sakaleshpura in Hassan District.
Justice H. B. Prabhakara Sastry upheld the trial court’s and the session court’s orders upholding his conviction, stating that “the sentence ordered by the trial court and confirmed by the sessions court is proportionate to the gravity of the proven guilt against the accused.”
To serve the sentence, he urged Ahammed to appear before the trial court within 45 days. The trial court sentenced Ahammed in June 2016 for the offences punishable under Section 7(i) and (ii) read with Section 16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. In March 2018, the Sessions Court upheld it.
The Food Inspector visited Select Coffee Works in Sakaleshpura and paid Rs. 60 for 600 gm of powder on June 20, 2008. He then sent the powder to the regional laboratory in Mysuru for analysis, which found discrepancies in the aqueous extract and caffeine levels. The report also stated that the batch number, ‘best before,’ and ‘veg’ or ‘non-veg’ symbols were absent from the label on the packet.
