Daily Times

The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) stopped the production of a food point and penalized 10 food business operators (FBOs) with Rs283,000 cumulative fine besides discarding 2,000 litres of substandard milk and other inferior-quality edibles.

On the directions of PFA Director General Muhammad Asim Javaid, PFA’s watchdogs examined several milk carrier vehicles, sweets shops and restaurants in Gawalmandi and City areas. He said that the dairy and food safety teams inspected the food quality and safety parameters in a daylong operation.

A team of PFA raided a sweets unit and stopped its production by imposing an emergency prohibition order (EPO) till further orders. He said that the raiding team witnessed poor cleanliness arrangements, the presence of expired food items and tempered MRDs on food products.

He said that PFA imposed hefty fines on a candied fruit production unit and eateries for preserving food in rusty drums, failing to present the necessary record to the raiding teams and violating the Punjab Pure Food Regulations.

Apart from that, the provincial food regulatory body warned seven food outlets, asking them to improve the hygienic condition, he added.

Moreover, dairy safety teams inspected 67 milk carrier vehicles loaded with over 100,000 litres of milk by placing screening pickets in Lahore, Sheikhupura and Kasur.

The director general said that the teams disposed of 2,000 litres of substandard milk after proving contamination of polluted water, low level of fats and a lack of nutritional values in it during lactoscan tests. Meanwhile, the authority discarded 400kg of substandard sweets, 370kg of rotten candied fruit, 378kg of raw food and a huge quantity of oil.

Muhammad Asim said that the PFA’s slogan of providing healthy food ‘From Farm to Fork’ is not merely a saying but is the top priority of the authority while the authority would continue its indiscriminate action against counterfeiters and adulterators till complete elimination from Punjab.

He asked people if they see adulterated items being made somewhere, report it to PFA on its 1223 helpline.