Minister wants rules finalised to make Sindh Food Authority fully functional

A day after the tragic incident of the death of two minor brothers in a suspected food poisoning case, the third meeting of the nascent Sindh Food Authority (SFA) was held on Monday.

Chairing the meeting, Food Minister Hari Ram Kishori Lal termed the boys’ deaths highly tragic and directed the officials concerned to probe the incident to fix responsibility and punish those responsible.

The minister said the rules and regulations concerning SFA should be finalised within one week to make the authority fully functional. He added the provincial government’s aim was to strengthen the provincial food authority so that it could perform its functions in the best of manner.

Lal said people had a lot of expectations from the SFA regarding control and regulation of the food and eatery services sector in the province. He directed SFA officials to discharge their responsibilities with complete integrity and honesty to achieve the goals set for the authority.

The provincial government has no intention at all to close or shut down any food-related business in the province but at the same time it would now allow the selling of unhealthy edible items to safeguard the health of the people, the food minister said.

While briefing the meeting, Director Operations of SFA Abrar Ahmed Sheikh said that the authority had come into existence earlier this year and had since then sealed 39 illegal food factories.

Moreover, 14 criminal cases have been lodged against different food factories, while fines to the tune of Rs1,610,000 have been imposed on businesses involved in the manufacture, provision and sale of substandard edible items. He added that SFA conducted operations and disposed of 25,000 tonnes meat being sold at Empress Market alone, which was found to be unfit for human consumption.

The authority has also imposed a ban on 17 companies producing bottled water in the province and has so far issued some 5,869 notices to different food factories giving them warnings to improve their functions.

The authority’s officials assured the board meeting that work on issuing proper licensing and accreditation to companies and factories involved in food manufacturing and services would soon begin.

The food secretary, SFA director general, a food technologist belonging to the University of Karachi Dr SM Ghufran, a representative of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry as well as representative of consumers, and representatives of bakers and confectioners association attended the meeting.

Separately, while talking to journalists at the Sindh Assembly building on Monday, Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani said that not much time had passed since the SFA had come into existence but despite that the officials concerned had taken up the issue in order to thoroughly probe the deaths of two minor brothers.

He added that those involved in the business of eateries were themselves required to become fully serious and show complete responsibility about their restaurant services as they should desist from selling such food items that are unfit for consumption.

Meanwhile, expressing his sympathies with the affected families, Mayor Wasim Akhtar said that the safety of food served at eateries comes under the domain of the Sindh government, not KMC.

Speaking to The News at his office on Monday, Mayor Akhtar said the children’s death was unfortunate, but added that the “deaths occurred at a private hospital and KMC has nothing to do with this tragic incident”.

Replying to a question about the quality of foods served at Karachi’s restaurants, Akhtar said the Sindh Food Authority was responsible for looking into that and as per his knowledge the Food Department had taken action.

Ahmad, 1.5 years old, and his five-year-old brother Muhammad died on Sunday, while their mother is admitted to a hospital unconscious after they fell sick after reportedly consuming “tainted food”.

According to police, the family had gone out for dinner to a restaurant in Zamzama and then had sweets at a play land in Clifton on Saturday night.