New Delhi, Oct. 7 -- Protein powder cannot be taxed as a beverage simply because consumers are expected to mix it with milk or water before drinking it, the Supreme Court has held, drawing a clear distinction between what a product is when sold and what a consumer may eventually turn it into. In a ruling with implications for the taxation of health supplements and powdered food products, the court said that tax authorities must classify goods according to their physical form at the time of sale, rather than their eventual use. A powder does not become a beverage merely because it can be mixed into a drink, just as the same product could be used to prepare a solid food item instead. "Conversely, if a ready-to-drink beverage such as bottled c...