Right outside the popular barbeque point on GT Road, near the University of Engineering & Technology (UET), there hangs a banner with an interesting script written on it that beckons customers to the place with the strongly worded claim that it has been given a clean chit by the Punjab Food Authority (PFA).

As you venture inside, you find the waiters wearing green coverings on their heads, possibly to prevent their sweat from dripping in the food items they are handling.

What’s more, they have printed menus in their hands that they give to the customers the moment the latter take their seats. At the same time, they inform the customers that they do not serve beef kebabs any more.

The reason is simple. "Nobody orders these," says Muhammad Asif, a waiter, in his early 20s, with a half smile. "People are increasingly going for chicken instead of meat due to the popular belief about the nature and quality of the latter."

Minced meat at eateries has the least buyers as it is easy to sell substandard meat in this form. "All our items meet the quality standards; Madam Ayesha Mumtaz cleared us after the inspection," Asif claims.

This is just one example of how the culinary habits of the people of Lahore have changed over the last couple of months. Every other day, there is news about donkey meat or expired meat being traced and confiscated in the city. The extraordinary coverage on conventional and online media about these discoveries have deterred the Lahoris to a great extent and brought a significant change in their eating habits.

"I’ve switched to vegetables and lentils recently," says Saqib Butt who dines out at least once in a day and also, occasionally, has chicken "if it is slaughtered in front of my eyes!"

Butt knows of the most popular food outlets in the city and often advises friends on the best places to find karahi, curry or barbeque. His major concern is that many of the eateries on his list of favourites have recently faced punitive action due to different discrepancies. "If the top ones are involved in such nefarious activities, what would be the state of affairs at your average, roadside eating stall?" he asks.

It is common knowledge that a large number of food businesses have seen a sharp fall in their revenues following the many raids conducted by the PFA to examine hygienic conditions, quality of meat and other food items and health certificates of the kitchen and support staff. The PFA officials claim that though the slump in the food industry may be temporary and it shall come back exponentially, provided it follows the standards and wins the consumers’ trust.

Interestingly, the situation arising from the crackdown has helped some people as well. Malik Iqbal is one such person who was able to save a lot of money because he didn’t have to serve mutton to the guests on his son’s wedding who were coming from his ancestral village.

Because of his guests’ apprehensions about mixing donkey meat with mutton, he was able to satisfy them on why he had opted for chicken. "Had this not been the case, my guests would have condemned me in front of everybody and even boycotted the function," he says.

According to Asif Alam, the proprietor of Paragon Events, a catering and event management company, the Lahoris are meat lovers and it is very difficult to change this habit. "There are quite a large number of events where we have orders to serve mutton only. But this time around, some people asked us about the address and names of the meat suppliers. A couple of them have also asked for receipts of meat purchase and requested to let them inspect it before it is cooked.

"But most of the times, this is just a pressure tactic and nobody turns up to make these checks," he adds. "Our willingness to let them carry out the checks alone satisfies them."

Alam is of the view that the restaurants are suffering more as people now prefer cooking and eating meat in their homes. "All the food items that have crushed or minced meat as an ingredient do not have the same amount of buyers now."

He sympathises with those restaurant owners who are serving quality food but have to suffer because of the popular disbelief.

There should be hygiene laws and a mechanism in place, to isolate the violators and to save the quality food outlets from being stigmatised for no fault of theirs.

Fareeha Anwar, the spokesperson of Punjab Food Authority (PFA), dispels the impression that the authority’s ongoing action has changed the eating habits of the people of Lahore. "In fact, it will ultimately force everybody to observe standards of food and hygiene and, in the long run, bring more and more people to the food outlets. Once the consumers’ trust is restored there would be a boom in the sector."

Anwar claims that things are improving fast and most restaurants that were not able to satisfy the raiding teams on the sources where they would purchase meat from are now obtaining receipts from the meat sellers. "This is a big step towards the documentation of economy and introducing the traceability of the meat procured by the food outlets!"

Naseem Sadiq, Secretary Livestock Punjab, says the department has introduced a tracking system which helps the buyers to ensure the quality and source of meat sold at different shops and stores. "There is a tag, carrying a barcode, attached to the meat that leaves the official slaughterhouse. The buyers can take a snap of the tag and send the number code to 9211, and they will get confirmation whether or not the meat is halal and healthy.

"The barcode on the tag on meat is valid for 12 hours, after which it expires and cannot be used on any other butchered animal."