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Sale of adulterated, unhygienic foodstuff goes unchecked

RawalpindiThe district health department has failed to launch an effective campaign for months to check sale of adulterated and unhygienic foodstuff in town that is posing serious health threats to public.The sale of substandard and highly adulterated foodstuff including cooked and uncooked items is going on unnoticed in almost all

By Muhammad Qasim
March 01, 2015
Rawalpindi
The district health department has failed to launch an effective campaign for months to check sale of adulterated and unhygienic foodstuff in town that is posing serious health threats to public.
The sale of substandard and highly adulterated foodstuff including cooked and uncooked items is going on unnoticed in almost all markets of town and the consumers are complaining of the phenomenon but the concerned authorities have not planned a comprehensive crackdown for months against those involved in the devilry.
According to health experts, the sale of highly adulterated daily use commodities particularly spices and tea in almost all retail and wholesale markets of town is a major cause behind a number of ailments particularly involving stomach and kidney.
Also majority of local restaurants, shopkeepers, bakers, fast food centres and vendors in town have been selling unhygienic foodstuff in extremely unhygienic conditions mainly because none of the concerned government authorities is giving due attention to provision of hygienic and clean foodstuff to consumers.
A number of bakers and confectioners use textile colour to colour foodstuff particularly sweets while in a number of retail and wholesale markets, injurious to health substances are mixed with spices particularly red chilli powder, black pepper, coriander and turmeric powders and ‘garam masala’ to get more profit margins.
The concerned authorities have been doing almost nothing to safeguard poor public from food and water-borne diseases including viral hepatitis (A&E), gastroenteritis, diarrhea and dysentery, said a top official serving at one of the allied hospitals while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.
Pleading anonymity, he said it is strange that the high-ups in the provincial government have been elaborating a lot to improve healthcare services for public but doing almost nothing to eliminate causes behind ailments. It is ironical to take action on effects instead of removing causes, he said.
It is important that the health department has not planned any crackdown against local hotels, shopkeepers and vendors selling unhygienic foodstuff for months while there is also no regular check on sale of food adulteration.
Tehsil sanitary inspectors and district food inspector are working hard to check sale of substandard and adulterated foodstuff in the district, claimed District Health Officer Dr. Rafiq Ahmed when contacted by ‘The News’ on Saturday.
He added that the concerned staff at the health department is collecting samples of food items regularly in routine from markets and send those to laboratory in Lahore for quality checking however he admitted that the health department did not launch special campaign to check the menace for months.
When asked whether the foodstuff on sale in all markets of town is of the finest quality and nothing wrong is being done at retail and wholesale markets, he said he cannot say that; however, he said the health department’s teams are working hard to check the menace of adulteration. Dr. Rafiq added that the district health department has a limited staff to ensure provision of clean and quality foodstuff to consumers and it is not possible for the health department to engage additional staff for the purpose particularly because of extensive working for polio eradication and to avoid dengue fever outbreak in the district.