Gur-making unit sealed over adulteration

MARDAN: A team of Food Safety and Halal Food Authority raided a gur-making unit and imposed a heavy fine on the owner for adulteration in the sweetener in Qasimi area in Katlang tehsil on Monday.

On the directives of Food Minister Muhammad Atif Khan and Food Authority Director General Shahrukh Ali Khan, a team of the authority comprising Assistant Director Muhammad Abbas, Food Safety Officers Sher Hassan Khan and Syed Salman raided a gur-making unit in Qasimi area in Katlang tehsil.

The owner had established the unit at home located in the fields and was using chemicals, sugar and flour in making gur.The team raided the unit and seized 600 kilogram adulterated gur. The officials sealed the unit. A fine of Rs 50,000 was imposed on the owner and the first information report was lodged against him.

Deputy Director of the Food Safety and Halal Food Authority, Kamran Khan, said ensuring healthy and hygienic food supply to the people was a priority with the authority. The official said nobody would be allowed to endanger the health of the masses, adding action against food adulteration would continue unabated without any fear or favour.

It may be mentioned here that the Food Safety and Halal Food Authority had recently unearthed and sealed a factory for preparing counterfeit beverages.The action was taken by the Food Safety Officers Sher Hasan Khan and Syed Salman under Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Arif special instructions.

The factory was being operated in a house in the Mohib Banda area of the district. It was preparing cold drinks and marketing the products after affixing the labels of the multinational companies on the bottles.The officials had confiscated up to 10,000 litres of counterfeit cold bottles of the drinks and vowed to proceed against the culprits who owned the factory.