Minister checks milk quality at Sabeel points

LAHORE:Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yaseen on Sunday checked the quality of milk at 'Sabeel' points, set up at Data Darbar and in its surroundings in connection with the ongoing annual urs celebrations of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh (RA).

According to official sources, the minister directed the dairy safety teams to check quality of milk at entrance points of the provincial capital besides checking the milk quality in City. Bilal Yaseen said that food safety teams of the PFA would remain deputed in surroundings of the Darbar till the last day of urs.

He said that supervision of food items would also be carried out at food preparing centres in the surroundings of the Data Darbar and added that poor quality of food items would not be tolerated at all.

Meanwhile, the PFA has discarded 853,000 litres of adulterated milk in the last six months across Punjab. PFA Director General Muhammad Asim Javaid told the media on Sunday that PFA’s dairy safety teams checked the quality of 175.177 million litres of milk while inspecting 236,900 milk carrier vehicles and dairy shops in different divisions of the province.

The authority closed 103 milk shops and dairy units while 131 FIRs have been registered against violators. As many as 227.98 per cent more milk was checked compared to last year, he said.

Muhammad Asim Javaid said that the provincial food regulatory body had taken action against food business operators (FBOs) due to adulteration, poor cleanliness arrangements, abundance of flies and violation of the PFA laws.

PFA DG said that on a daily basis, teams are screening hundreds of milk carrier vehicles loaded with thousands of litres of milk at the entry and exit points of the major cities besides checking milk shops in each city of Punjab. He said that a milk traceability system was launched to trace the journey of the milk from the farm to the store and house.