PFA to appoint food safety ambassadors

LAHORE: Director General Punjab Food Authority (PFA) Noorul Ameen Mengal has said that a healthy Punjab is our mission for which Punjab Chief Minister has delegated powers to the PFA.

Speaking in the Express Forum, he said that the Food Act of 1963 has been updated to be at a par with the latest international standards. Those producing substandard food will not be spared. The amount of fine has been raised from Rs0.15m to Rs15m and intelligence based raids are being carried out against fake food inspectors and producers of substandard food.



He said that the food safety was not taken into account in the past. There was no food safety department since independence. Now PFA is authorised to seal factories without notice which are producing substandard food.

The department has hired 450 food technologists while students will be taken onboard also under the Food Ambassador Programme so that they keep an eye on people selling substandard food items in their educational institutions and other places. (TRANSLATION BY ARSHAD SHAHEEN)

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2017.