The recent mayhem caused by
the forced closures, sealing of and fines imposed on top tier five-star hotels, restaurants and roadside eateries alike has stirred much controversy. It was after a long time that the public saw the government standing up to its oaths and responsibilities in at least this one instance. The newly appointed director of operations of the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), Ayesha Mumtaz, slammed shut establishments ranging from five-star hotels all the way to small shabby food corners, bakeries, juice corners and soda factories while also penning heavy fines on sketchy standards of hygiene and food quality. They recently raided the canteen for King Edward Medical University and Jinnah Hospital, fining them heavily for using stale, post-expiry date fruits and negligent storage practices.
In response to these raids, food companies have been rallying massive protests against the “questionable” methods employed by the PFA to ensure hygiene and food standards. There have been numerous conspiracy theories, as expected, regarding why the PFA has started to take action now rather than since 2011 when it was first established. Other allegations include fining the eateries to make up for recent financial costs incurred while shifting to a new lavish office building and targeting only the top-notch restaurants. A major issue raised by the restaurants is that the PFA has swept its website clear of all allegations against its standards; this conduct has been alleged as being guilty of curbing the most primal fundamental right, that of freedom of expression.
What these people have failed to realise is that the campaign was initialised under the leadership of Ayesha Mumtaz when she was recently appointed as the director of operations at PFA. Therefore, there has been greater attention regarding its operations in the general market. Moreover, the remarks made by the restaurant owners in defence of their alleged malpractice (that their methods are not illegal but are standardised and according to international protocols) further goes to show their negligence and incognisance. Clearly, these restaurants are consumed by an inflated ego and blinded by a sorry sense of ignorance as they not only fail to uphold their side of the oath to supply hygienic and good quality food service to the general public but also continue to remain unapologetic in this regard.
Instead of lashing out at the PFA, which has at least taken the initiative of helping people understand the health standards of places that they like to dine at, they should have made the more intelligent choice of securing health standards and inspecting their premises to repair the damages identified. Instead of correcting their ways of business, they chose to point fingers and be disrespectful. Furthermore, the operation conducted by the PFA covered a wide spectrum of eateries, multiple ice factories and juice corners, including Mujahid Soda Factory, Bismillah Lemon Soda Water Factory and New Gulshan Juice Corner, which have also been sealed owing to the lack of cleanliness and failed samples that showed they were allegedly processing second-rate ice and soda water.
In these circumstances, we are forced to believe that we do not deserve officers like Ayesha Mumtaz who are trying to help us realise just how much these restaurants are ready to compromise on our quality of life by giving us stale, expired foods crawling with insects and then charging us money more than the worth of the food to make extra profits for themselves. The response from the team of Fatburger Pakistan has been commendable, at least to me. Even though they were sealed for seven days, the administration of the restaurant apologised for violating the country’s rules and regulations, and announced to extend the days for which it remains sealed, at least until its team inspects the facility for the substandard quality of food and storage practices. How difficult could it have been for others to own up to their mistakes before pointing fingers at the people being honest to their responsibilities?
These efforts and strikes by the PFA have motivated multiple restaurants to look into their facilities and rectify their mistakes; many more need to start doing so as well. Maybe that can be the take home message from this initiative. What seems to be more important is how we change our practices and respond. However, I also agree that more efforts need to be put into organising standard operating protocols (SOPs) along with setting up a committee that will include members of the PFA and the owners of restaurants in order to rectify the mistakes already committed and how the situation can be improved in the future. In this way, this will appear less of a rift between the government (the PFA) and the local population (the restaurants), and more of an effort to consolidate and set straight our priorities, and ultimately serve as a medium of welfare for the general population.
The writer is a student at LUMS and freelance columnist