Action planned against substandard chips, pops and nimkos

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety Authority on Thursday decided to take action against unregistered and loose chips, pops, nimkos and spices.

A handout said the authority presented a report to Chief Minister Ali Amin on substandard chips, pops, nimkos and spices in the province.It was decided in the meeting to take action against openly sold substandard chips, pops, nimkos and spices in markets and to register all factories producing these items, with a one-month deadline given to both small and large factories for registration with the authority.

Provincial Minister for Food, Zahir Shah Toru, Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Development Ikramullah Khan, Secretary Food Saqib Raza Aslam and officials of the authority attended the meeting.

It was also decided to ensure effective monitoring and checking of factories to meet food safety standards, with heavy fines to be imposed on factories failing to comply.In the next phase, a ban will be imposed on the sale of unregistered and non-compliant products in the market.

During a briefing by the authority, the participants were informed that the KP Food Safety Authority had completed its testing campaign for chips and pops, adding that for

the first time in the province’s history, a two-week drive was carried out to test pops and spices, during which 462 samples were collected from various fatories and analyzed.

Out of the total samples, 175 were pops, 24 of nimkos, 160 of seasoning powders, and 103 of curry powders.Out of 175 pops samples, 93 were satisfactory, while 82 were found unsatisfactory. Similarly, out of the 24 nimko samples, 16 passed, and 8 failed.

Out of the 160 seasoning powder samples, 131 were satisfactory, while 29 were unsatisfactory.Likewise, out of the 103 curry powder samples, 74 passed, and 29 failed.The percentage of failed samples was found to be 46.2 percent for chips, 33.3 percent for nimko, 18.1 percent for seasoning powder, and 28.1 percent for curry powder.

The purpose of this testing campaign was to evaluate the quality of chips available in the market and the spices used in their production.Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said those factories manufacturing and selling food items must comply with food safety standards at all cost.