Daily Times

LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on Tuesday raided Shandy Cola factory where substandard soft drinks were allegedly being made.

The PFA team took into custody 300,000 soft drink bottles and raw material worth millions of rupees during a raid on the production unit of the factory located on Sheikhupura Road.

According to details, expired ingredients were allegedly being used to prepare soft drinks, while chemicals were also being mixed to develop the taste. Moreover, printed labels were carrying wrong address of the factory.

The PFA had earlier collected the samples of Shandy Cola from Lorry Adda (bus terminal), Badami Bagh, Shadman and other areas of the city for a quality test and found that the samples failed to clear the test.

Currently, the company is marketing its seven products, including Shandy Cola, Limonca, Apple Gold, Fountain New, Shandy Laal Anaar and Shandy Zing.

When contacted, the operator at the factory refused to transfer the call by saying that no high official was available.

Talking to Daily Times, PFA Director Operation Rafia Haider said that the authority had got registered a FIR in the local area police station and sealed the unit.

She said that the company was mentioning wrong address on the bottles, which was unlawful. “We had given a task to our Vigilance Cell to identify the main distributor of soft drinks in the market after its samples failed to qualify the test,” she said, adding the raid was carried out on a tip-off by the Vigilance Cell of the PFA.

She said that the PFA would not allow “adulteration mafia” to play havoc with the lives of innocent citizens. “We will continue our raids against those preparing or selling substandard of fake products,” she added.

Meanwhile, the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) in a message on the company’s website claimed, “Shandy-Cola has resolved to ensure maintenance and constant improvement of quality of the product. The will of management to support the belief in quality is visible through latest equipment and machinery installed at our bottling units. Best human resource has been made available to ensure constant improvement in quality.”

“I wish to thank millions of our satisfied consumers for posing confidence in Shandy Cola. Succeeding in business in countries like Pakistan is very easy. Honesty, quality, availability and reasonable price are pillars at which the success rests. Quality of consumer products is one issue where the developing countries constantly lag behind.”

Earlier, the PFA confiscated a huge quantity of rotten eggs worth Rs 15 million during a raid on an egg processing unit, Al-Wafa, in Manga Mandi.