Daily Times

LAHORE: As many as 7,000 fake bottles of fizzy drinks of various popular soft drink brands were discarded, machinery confiscated and the factory closed down by the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) during a special raid on the site on Wednesday.

The raid was conducted on the tip-off of vigilance cell on the factory which was illegally running a business in Gulshan Wahab Colony Chongi Amarsadhu. This was informed by Additional Director General (Operations) Rafia Haider during talking with media persons.

She said that the factory was producing soft drinks of different brands which supplied in local shops of Lahore and Kasur.

Rafia Haider said that the demand of carbonated and other beverages increased in Ramazan as usual. The ADG Operations said that the raiding team confiscated a total of 7,000 filled bottles including 3,200 bottles of one and a half litre while 3,800 bottles of half litre, which were later discarded. She informed that PFA’s team also rooted out gas cylinders, two filling machines, compressors, motors, drums and other machinery which was being used for producing fake carbonated drinks. She further said that the PFA had detained an accused and handed him over to police after registering a case against him in the respective area’s police station.

“Our special teams are fully active and taking vigorous action against adulterators. The crackdown will continue against them with zero tolerance,” Haider mentioned.

In separate inspections, the PFA has closed five food businesses including four in Lahore. The food premises were sealed due to their sale of low-quality edibles and failed to maintain hygienic working environment during the crackdown held against these Food Business Operators (FBOs) throughout Punjab. The teams comprised of food safety officers, assistant food safety officers and other officials. The PFA had visited thousands of shops, production units and food stalls in Ramazan Bazaars, that are open at the time of sehri and iftar. PFA’s watchdogs have examined the quality of food, ingredients, food safety arrangements and use of food safety kits in order to ensure the implantation of provincial food law.

PFA Lahore sealed three sweets shops due to mislabelling, improper cleanliness arrangements, an abundance of insects, for using artificial flavours and substandard ingredients in the area of Badami Bagh. A team of PFA also conducted a raid in Lalpul area and sealed a samosa point for frying samosas in rancid oil.

The PFA’s watchdogs also discarded 814 kilogrammes of rotten and poor quality fruits and vegetables from different stalls which have been set up in Ramazan Bazaars across the province. Similarly, teams of the authority also inspected different food businesses in the 36 districts of Punjab and imposed heavy fine tickets of Rs 246,000 on 38 outlets over violations of provincial food laws. The authority imposed fines of Rs 53,000 on seven shops in Lahore, Rs 52,000 fine on eight outlets in Multan, Rs 26,000 fine on four eateries in Rawalpindi, Rs 11,000 fine on two FBOs in Sargodha, Rs 44,000 fine on six food points in Dera Ghazi Khan, Rs 13,000 fine in Bahawalpur and Rs 100,000 fine on 14 FBOs in Gujranwala.

Published in Daily Times, May 24^th 2018.