Daily Times

Held at Expo Centre, Lahore, from February 10 to 12, the recently held Punjab Food Authority’s Food Expo carries paramount significance in the promotion of a healthy and safe food culture in Pakistan. It is deemed to be an important venture in the promotion
of food exports as well as to ensure an increase in foreign direct investment in the food sector of Pakistan. The Food Expo was
organized effectively with another aim of promoting the indigenous and foreign food businesses of the country.

It is delightful to note that the Food Expo had been a potential avenue to exhibit the progress and prosperity of the food industry of the country, which holds the potential of becoming a key driving force of the gross domestic product. It had been a promising venture to seek the export promotion of the food products as there were stalls set up by the food experts, food processing specialists, food exporters, importers and manufacturers.
The visit by the foreign delegates and ambassadors added to the promising aura; thereby, enhancing the export competitiveness of the food industry of Pakistan.

The Expo aimed to create awareness about the necessity to release the containers of essential food items stuck at the ports in the presence of foreign delegations

The significance lies in revealing the important role of the Punjab Food Authority in the quality inspection of the food served by different restaurants, cafeterias and miscellaneous food vendors. The role in the quality inspection of the milk was also highlighted whereby, it was told that PFA had been conducting a feasibility analysis of the milk by a collection of more than 10,000 samples of milk door-to-door from vendors of the multiple districts of the Punjab region. This process was done in collaboration with the students of different universities conducting research on the quality of the milk. It was also ascertained that the role of the Punjab Food Authority in controlling the adulteration in milk has been prominent, and it is increasingly reinforced owing to the fact that the milk’s demand outweighs its production level in Punjab; thereby, increasing the risk of adulteration.

Furthermore and holding more relevance, the event was a useful platform to discuss the contemporary issues characterizing the food sector of Pakistan. The salient issues that more than 150 food containers of the edibles such as onion, garlic, ginger, tea powder, and chicken feed being stuck at the ports were highlighted. Besides, the containers of other basic necessities notably being medicines, and numerous food items, languishing at the ports and how they needed to be immediately released were highlighted as part of the recent event. It aimed to create awareness about the necessity to release the containers of essential food
items stuck at the ports in the presence of foreign delegations by bringing this grave matter to their notice too.

The platform of Food Expo served as an amazing platform to build a liaison with fields of commerce, trade, and the business environment to grow the export competitiveness of local food products. It has aided in understanding the health, and nutritional value of a variety of food products consumed in the local market to motivate individuals to embrace a diet pattern deemed to be fit for their health. There remains a need to organise such food-related events on a mega scale more frequently in Pakistan so that the local food market can be promoted. Also pertinent is the need to enhance its liaison with the departments of trade and commerce in the country.

The writer can be reached at aiyza.javaid@gmail.com