KARACHI: Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani on Tuesday formed a three-member committee to oversee the provincial food authority following the death of two minors earlier this week from alleged food poisoning after dining out.
The committee will comprise parliament members Sohrab Sarki, Sanjay Perwani and Ghanwer Khan Isran and work towards the betterment of the Sindh Food Authority.
Speaking to the media, Perwani said, “We will work towards making the food authority better to prevent any future deaths due to food poisoning after consuming food at restaurants.”
Two children, identified as 18-month-old Ahmed and Muhammad, 5, lost their lives on November 11, allegedly due to food poisoning after dining at a restaurant in the city’s Zamzama area.
While police have initiated a probe into the matter and the restaurant has been sealed for forensic investigation, a post-mortem of the two children was completed Sunday night.
According to Dr Shiraz, the medico-legal officer (MLO) at Jinnah Hospital, the brothers apparently died due to food poisoning.
Further, samples of more than 30 items from the residence of the bereaved family were taken and are scheduled to be sent to a laboratory for chemical analysis with the home being completely sealed.
Separately, Sindh Food Authority (SFA) on Tuesday recovered at least 80 kilogrammes of expired meat from a top restaurant’s “secret store room” in the city.
At least 80 kilograms of expired meat and food additives were found from the secret godown.
Director SFA Abrar Sheikh told the media that during the first raid, he asked the outlet manager if there was another godown or dumping area other than the one attached with the restaurant but they denied.
“We then kept them under surveillance and were given information that the restaurant staff is moving some stuff from their outlet, upon which we conducted a raid and found out that they have a secret godown in an apartment building nearby,” said Abrar Sheikh.
He revealed that the SFA team found at least 70 kilograms of expired beef and other stale food items from their store room.
“Expired meat and food additives have been recovered. We have taken samples and they will be sent to the laboratory for examination,” said Abrar Sheikh.
A video of the raid shows a raw meat packet from the year 2014 and a date from year 2015 mentioned as expiration date.
It is yet to be determined if the same meat or food additives were used for making the food which led to the death of two minors.
When asked about his department’s overall performance, the SFA director said that his organization is a few months old and cannot be compared with Punjab or Khyber Pakhtunkwa’s food regulatory authority.
Two minor brothers died on Sunday afternoon from ‘food poisoning’ after which the authorities sealed a restaurant in the metropolis, said Karachi Police.
SSP South Pir Muhammed Shah said the victims’ mother was also hospitalised and was under treatment.
“Two minor brothers namely Ahmad, one and half year old, and Muhammad, five, died from food poisoning on Sunday afternoon,” said SSP Shah.
It is pertinent to note here that on November 11, the same restaurant was sealed after two minor brothers died after dining at the eatery and consuming sweets from a shop in an amusement park.
Published in Daily Times, November 14th 2018.
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