1,300 litre adulterated milk discarded

LAHORE:The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) continued its crackdown on adulterated milk across the province and disposed of 1,300 litre chemically contaminated milk.

On Thursday, dairy safety teams under the supervision of Punjab Food Authority Director General Irfan Memon conducted raids on various milk shops in the areas of Gulberg, Ferozpur Road and Gopal Nagar.

The Punjab Food Authority DG said that PFA had visited 211 milk points and examined the quality of 28,000 litre milk in a daylong operation. He said that 32.5 maunds tainted milk was discarded after it was proved that milk had contamination of polluted water and harmful chemicals.

Meanwhile, adulterated milk was being sold at Mashallah Milk Shop in Gulberg and Bulleh Shah and Hamiyon Gujjar Milk Shop in Gopal Nagar.He said that adulteration was a heinous crime and adulterators would be dealt with an iron hand.

Irfan Memon said that Punjab Food Authority food safety officers were being sent to field wearing full protective clothing. The authority also screened the food business operators for COVID-19 with the help of thermal guns.

Call to let leather factories work: Chairman Pakistan Tanners Association (Northern Zone) Fazlur Rehman Sheikh has said all export industry of Punjab including leather industry has been closed due to lockdown for the last ten days while the provincial administration is not ready to give any importance to the export industry and its associated affairs in this lockdown.

Sheikh Fazalur Rehman Thursday said that the leather tanning industry is considered to be the largest industry in the world, which depends on the byproduct of another sector. He said the skins started putrefying due to lack of proper curing arrangement after slaughtering of animals.

The relevant authority is afraid that these skins may prove to be the source of any infectious disease, and the country cannot afford any such situation. He urged the authorities that it was necessary for leather factories to allow continue working on a limited scale, otherwise raw leather being obtained on a daily basis would start decomposing.

He said the government should take timely steps to take control of the affairs so that the leather industry can also be able to absorb the effects of this lockdown, as well as preserve the valuable skins.