PFA raids 700 schools to check food quality

LAHORE: To ensure compliance of Punjab Educational Institutions Food Standard Regulations 2017 banning the sale of carbonated drinks in and around educational institutes, Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has increased the pace of inspections across the province.



Provincial food watchdog was conducting hundreds of inspections in educational institutions on daily basis to check whether canteens in public and privates schools were selling banned beverages and other harmful products such as gutka and supari or not. Food safety officers are also inspecting quality of different edible products being sold to students.

PFA Director General Noorul Amin Mengal is supervising the operations in entire Punjab.

Last week, the authority had conducted operation in over 700 schools in eight divisions of the province and inspected food products quality and availability. According to a PFA spokesperson, the authority had inspected around 68 schools in Lahore, 41 in Rawalpindi, 39 in Multan, 35 in Gujranwala, 41 in Faisalabad, 24 in Sahiwal, 27 in Bahawalpur, 19 in Sargodha and 22 in DG Khan.



Collectively, 109 schools were issued notices on inappropriate cleanliness and presence of unhealthy food items. In addition, seven schools were checked in Chakwal, five in Attock, 15 in Sialkot, 15 in Jehlum, 32 in Mandi Bahauddin, 14 in Okara, eight in Khanewal, five in Rajanpur and 13 in Layya.

PFA DG also inspected different schools in Faisalabad, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh and rewarded five thousand rupees to Divisional Public School (DPS) Toba Tek Singh Principal Maqbool Javaid for maintaining clean and healthy edibles in canteen. He also issued warnings to six schools in Toba Tek Singh.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2017.