Holding that tea could not be included in the category of foodstuff, the Supreme Court has termed it as ‘‘a mere stimulant’’ and quashed provisions of a 26-year-old Tamil Nadu government order declaring tea as an essential foodstuff commodity.A bench comprising Justice R.C. Lahoti and Justice Ashok Bhan said that as the Central Government in 1972 had delegated power to the state government to issue orders under the Essential Commodities Act, 1952, tea could not be included as the delegation was for the specific purpose of foodstuffs.The bench set aside a Madras High Court order which had held that tea could be included under foodstuff as ‘‘many a poor man who live under the poverty line take a cup of tea more as a food ’’.Referring to the Tamil Nadu government order, the bench said in the 1972 Central Government notification delegation of power was confined to foodstuffs alone. Extracting the meaning given in the New Encyclopaedia Britannica to tea and coffee, the bench said that coffee and tea were of no nutritive value, except that coffee contained some niacin and tea contained fluoride and manganese, but they could be a vehicle for intakes of sugar, milk or lemon.
