56,772-litre spurious soft drinks seized

LAHORE:Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has unearthed two fake carbonated making factories and confiscated 56,772 litres of spurious soft drinks in two different raids conducted in the area of Wagah and Halloki here on Wednesday.

The raids were conducted under the supervision of PFA Director General Muhammad Usman. He said PFA registered a case and handed over adulterators to police after arresting them. He said that the teams have caught them red-handed making fake carbonated drinks of different brands with artificial flavours, hazardous chemicals and contaminated water.

Meanwhile, PFA foiled an attempt to supply this consignment of thousands of litres of fake drinks in the market while taking timely action against counterfeiters. He added that these fake drinks were supplied on bus stations and railway stations across Punjab.

PFA’s watchdogs have seized as many as 56,772 litres of ready drinks, 5,000 empty bottles, six gas cylinder, five filling machine, chemicals and a huge quantity of caps and labels during the raids, he added.

Meanwhile, PFA arranged an awareness walk and a seminar at a private university. The event was held in connection with World Food Safety Day 2019. The event was attended by PFA Director General Muhammad Usman as a chief guest. A large number of students, faculty members from various departments, nutrition experts and people from different walk of life participated in the awareness walk which was carried out inside the academic premises. They were carrying banners and placards with different slogans for public awareness.

Later, a seminar was held at the university’s Auditorium. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shanawar Hayyat and Nutritionist Sheefa Ali educated participants about consumer safe quality food. Another speaker, Dr Faisal Mustafa, praised the efforts of Punjab Food Authority and its teams.

Thai delegation: A delegation from Thailand visited the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) head office here on Wednesday.

The purpose of the visit is to discuss business opportunities in the food industry, officials said, adding Director General Muhammad Usman, Punjab Food Authority, briefed the delegation about the reforms in food industry as well as new business opportunities created in it. He also briefed the meeting about the positive effects of PFA’s work on the health of the public. The delegation was also given briefing about regulations, administrative affairs, management structure and progress of PFA. The DG said Punjab Food Authority has made the process of having food licence and registration easier for the food industry. The authority has facilitated food businesses operators with modern technology to apply food licence through e-Licensing system, he added. The packaging industry has more business opportunities due to packaging law. Due to the re-used oil law, the eco-friendly industry has grown as well as protection from cancer.