Daily Times

LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has failed to control the supply of unhygienic and substandard food being served by catering companies and wedding halls to customers on different occasions/events.

Citizens said that catering companies and wedding halls charged heavy amount but the quality of food they provided was not satisfactory. They said that the administrations know that most people had no option but to hire their services; something they usually exploit.

They urged the town administration teams and the PFA to not only focus on food and one-dish violation but also ensure that dishware like plates, pots and cutlery were washed properly due.

They demanded that the Punjab government should to introduce its very own kitchens/catering services for the people.

Several unregistered wedding halls and caterers are still serving substandard food in across the city and its suburbs, especially in slum areas, despite issuance of several warnings and notices to them about obtaining licences and using standard products and ingredients that were approved by the PFA. This was observed while visiting different areas of Lahore in the last few days, including Ichhra, Ravi, Shadbagh, Shahdara, Badami Bagh, Misri Shah, Data Darbar, Wagah border, Jallo and Sabzazar. The same practice was also founded in several posh areas of the city.

The PFA had issued first notice to wedding halls and catering companies in January under the PFA Act, 2011, Section 2(b), to adopt SOPs of food and to obtain PFA licences for running business in five districts of Punjab – Lahore, Multan, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. But after 41 days of the first notice, the PFA once again gave a 15-day final deadline to obtain licences and follow PFA’s SOPs, which expired on April 18. However, fruitful results and outcomes were not received despite this practice.

According to the notice, catering and wedding halls administrations were bound to use standard essential commodities like oil, meat, chicken, spices and other ingredients that were commonly used in cuisines during preparation of food.

Wedding halls were also bound to take services of cooked food from registered kitchens/caterers. Moreover, the SOPs called upon the catering companies to make sure that the cooking place was clean and staff members were medically fit.

When contacted, PFA DG Noorul Ameen Mangal neither attended calls nor replied to the text message on this issue.

Later, PFA spokesperson Hafiz Qasier said, “We are taking legal action against them and 40 wedding halls and catering companies have been sealed so far. Among them, 22 have been sealed in Lahore over running businesses without obtaining licences and other deficiencies. We are also checking halls and companies on a regular basis.”

He said that the PFA had issued 1,217 licences and imposed fine on the administrations of 330 wedding halls and catering companies in five divisions of Punjab since the issuance of the first notice.