19 eateries sealed, 77 shopkeepers fined for food laws violation

LAHORE: Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has sealed 19 food outlets and imposed Rs 576,500 fine on 77 shopkeepers for violating food laws during raids in different cities of the province on Wednesday.

Following the directions of PFA Director General Noorul Amin, food safety teams visited thousands of food stalls, grocery stores, bakeries, confectioneries, production units, and factories for ensuring the implementation of food safety laws in Ramazan bazaars and open markets.

The teams were comprised of food safety officers, assistant food safety officers and other members. The PFA’s Lahore teams raided Sabzazar area and sealed Quality Beverage Company and Nadeem & Sons Pulp production unit for not producing food licence and medical certificates of its workers, usage of non-food grade tanks and loose colour, presence of insects and absence of record of the filter. In another raid in New Samanabad area, the PFA team sealed Safa Foods Ketchup for adulteration, presence of washroom on store premises, not preserving food as per food safety standards, not adopting effective safety measures and failing to maintain hygienic working environment.

The PFA sealed four each food points in Multan and Gujranwala divisions, three in DG Khan, including soda factory and sweet shops, two eaters in Faisalabad, one in Rawalpindi, and two food points sealed in Sargodha, including Khoya unit and soda water plant for not complying with instructions of the authority and selling low quality products.

PFA imposed Rs 576,500 fine on 77 food business operators for multiple food hygiene issues. The teams issued fine tickets of Rs 128,000 to nine eateries in Lahore, Rs 18,000 to six shopkeepers in Multan, Rs 67000 to 10 food premises in Rawalpindi, Rs 40,000 fine in Sargodha, Rs 184,500 fine on 18 FBOs in Gujranwala, Rs104500 fine on 20 food outlets in DG Khan, Rs 13,500 fine in Bahawalpur and Rs 21,000 fine on six food points in Faisalabad.

The food safety teams discarded 918-kg rotten fruit and vegetables, 210-litre adulterated milk, 888-kg white flour, 40-litre rancid oil, 500-kg Khoya, 65kg sweets, 37-litre sugar syrup, 120-kg ice cream, 230 packs of Gutka, 176-kg ghee, loose colour, artificial flavours, hundreds of litres of beverages and other poor quality food products.

The PFA served warning notices on thousands of food points for improvement. Meanwhile Punjab Food Authority Chainman Amir Hayat Hiraj and Director General, PFA, Noor ul Amin Mengal jointly paid visits to different Ramazan bazaars of the city where they inspected arrangements and termed the overall arrangements satisfactory.

They visited different stalls set up by the food industry in makeshift markets (Ramazan Bazaars). The food safety teams conducted tests of ketchup, spices and other essential commodities which were put on stalls.

On the occasion, the DG appreciated the food industry for selling standard quality products on at least 20pc discount. Next year, the food industry will establish their stalls before starting of Ramazan, he added.

OPC to upgrade web portal: Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) Punjab Director General Usman Anwar said official web complaint portal was being upgraded to make it more users friendly.

Usman was presiding over the meeting here on Wednesday. He said by further streamlining the web portal and complaint registration mechanism, issues of overseas Pakistanis would be solved in a swift and efficient manner.

Usman said since its inception, OPC has exhibited exceptional performance in resolution of issues of expatriates and so for more than 60 per cent of the complaints received had been resolved.

The meeting discussed the pending complaints of overseas Pakistanis and the DG issued necessary instructions to officers concerned to pursue cases on priority basis.

Facilitation Committee Chairman Sajid Ch, Coordinator Haji Nawaz, Directors Asad Naeem, Raja Zubair, Ishrat-Ullah Niazi and other officers attended the meeting.