Jammu court fines Coca Cola in misbranding case

A court here Friday imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd in a case of misbranding filed by the Food Safety Department.

A team led by the Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety Jammu, Dr Parvesh Kumar, inspected the premises of Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd at Gangyal in Jammu, according to a spokesperson of the Food Safety Department.

The team lifted the samples of sweetened carbonated water brand Fanta and seized the available stock of 1,605 boxes containing 14,445 bottles of 2 litres each, the spokesperson said.

He said the samples were sent to the laboratory for analysis which reported misbranding.

A notice was served to the firm to appeal against the report of the Food Analyst within a period of 30 days, to which the firm gave a refusal in writing, the spokesperson said.

Later, proceedings were initiated by Food Safety Officer Daleep Singh in the Court of Adjudicating Officer (Additional District Magistrate) Jammu.

After hearing both the parties, the court imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd at Gangyal in Jammu, and passed an order for destruction of seized stock of said product amounting to Rs 8,14,728.