Illegal slaughterhouse unearthed

LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on Thursday unearthed an illegal slaughterhouse and seized 3,600-kg emaciated meat and registered a case against those involved in the crime. PFA Additional Director General (operations) Rafia Haider said a raid was conducted on information of PFA’s meat safety team. The raid was conducted in the area of cattle market (Bakar Mandi). She said the authority confiscated 90 maunds of germ-infested meat and set ablaze at PEMCO’s furnace. She said the team arrested all the accused from the spot and handed over them to police after registering a case against them. She said huge quantity of substandard and unhealthy meat had to supply to local butcher in market. As per the directions of PFA Director General Noor ul Amin Mengal, crackdown will continue on butchers till the elimination of their bad practices, she said. On the other hand, the PFA closed another 11 food points and imposed fine worth of Rs415,500 on 39 Food Business Operators (FBOs) during its operation in other cities of Punjab. The teams sealed one soda factory in Multan for using chemicals in the preparation of it. In Sargodha, the authority also shut three food businesses including water plant, sweet unit and ice factory due to improper labelling, presence of cigarette buds in production area and unavailability of RO system. In Gujranwala, five food points including grinding unit (Chakki), frozen food, BBQ point, Milk shop and one other eatery were sealed for using cosmetic and non-food grade colour, cooking in rust oil, presence of insects and other multiple food hygiene issues. Moreover, the PFA has sealed Salt Processing unit and ice factory in Dera Ghazi Khan over failure to meet the food standards, presence of animals, unavailability of RO system and failure to provide medical certificates of its workers.