Punjab Food Authority crackdown continues, six outlets fined

Rawalpindi:The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) discarded 5,000 sachets of ‘gutka’ and 350 litres of adulterated milk besides penalising six food business operators with Rs74,000 cumulative fine over violations during different raids in the Rawalpindi division.

PFA Director General Raja Jahangir Anwar said that acting on the tip-off, PFA’s team raided a warehouse in Ganjmandi and recovered thousands of ‘gutka’ packets, later discarded. The raiding team also imposed a fine of Rs7,000 for violating the food regulations.

He said that the sale of ‘gutka’ is impermissible across the province after the PFA imposed a ban on it due to its negative impact on health. He further said that the PFA dairy safety team placed a screening picket in Jhelum and imposed a fine of Rs19,000 on two milk suppliers after proven contamination of polluted water in the milk during the Lactoscan test.

A food safety team raided a beef shop on Eidgah Road and penalized with a Rs10,000 fine due to stored meat and offal pieces together, found animal faeces in ready to mincing material, and not adopted personal protective equipment (PPE), he said. In Jhelum, a general store was slapped with a fine of Rs30,000 due to selling expired cold drinks and violating the ‘First In, First Out’ policy.

Moreover, PFA took action against another general store in Machine Mohallah Sabri Market over multiple violations. Raja Jahangir said that PFA is utilizing all available resources to make the Safe City Project successful and to root out the adulteration in Punjab. He said that the utmost priority of PFA is to ensure the provision of healthy, safe, and standard food to the people at their doorstep.