PFA seals four businesses

LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has sealed four food businesses, including two restaurants in the posh area of city while production sections of famous food chain in the Industrial Estate and Bhobhatian Chowk, on Tuesday.

Food safety team under the supervision of food safety officer raided and sealed Taipei Restaurant in Gulberg for using expired products, presence of insects, improper cleanliness arrangements and other issues.

The team also sealed Tuscany Restaurant over preserved food on foot level, use of rancid oil, improper labelling on food articles and poor hygiene conditions. The PFA watchdogs have inspected the Gourmet Foods Dairy Section in Sundar Industrial Estate and sealed it over non-compliance with food safety standards.

Further, teams sealed pizza and sweets sections of Gourmet Foods during raid on site in Bhobhatian Chowk on Defence Road. Both sections were sealed for covering sweets with a dirty cloth, unavailability of filter record, presence of pests and for not obeying the instructions of the PFA.

The authority also discarded around 240kg low quality fruit and vegetables, 25 bottles of versatile drinks and 60 litre beverages during inspected the quality of food in Ramazan Bazaars. Similarly, teams of the authority also inspected different food businesses in the 36 districts of Punjab and imposed heavy fine tickets of Rs191,500 on 29 Food Business Operators (FBOs) over violation of provincial food laws.

The authority imposed fine of Rs35,000 in Lahore, Rs14,000 fine on two outlets in Multan, Rs29,000 fine on seven shops in Rawalpindi, Rs5,000 fine on two FBOs in Sargodha, Rs58,000 fine on nine eateries and Rs85,500 fine in DG Khan.

The PFA discarded a huge quantity of substandard products during operation, including 1,24litre beverages, 280kg butter, 680kg fruits and vegetables, 25kg toffee, snacks, pepper and other adulterated food products. PFA’s watchdogs have served notices on more than 2,000 food points for improvement during raid.