Beating many restaurants, Lakhpat Jail wins PFA’s praise

Provincial food watchdog’s teams visit jail’s kitchen and food production area

LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has given cash award of Rs20,000 to Kot Lakhpat Jail administrator for maintaining cleanliness in kitchen and food production area. The authority has also announced free training for jail workers to further improve hygiene and sanitation conditions in jail’s kitchen.

PFA Director General Noorul Amin Mengal, along with his food safety officers’ team, visited jail to inspect cleanliness and hygiene arrangement in jail kitchen and food production area. PFA officials checked cleanliness and food quality in jail kitchen and expressed their satisfaction. Mengal said though cleanliness situation in jail’s kitchen was satisfactory but still there is a room for improvement for which the authority will provide free training to jail workers.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the provincial food watchdog sealed 10 wedding halls and catering outlets in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Jhelum.

These wedding halls were using harmful and inferior quality ingredients in preparation of different food items and were not using freezers to preserve food as per PFA law and regulations.

These wedding halls and catering companies also had very poor cleanliness arrangements. PFA’s food safety officials visited around 446 wedding halls and catering companies in different districts of the province. It imposed penalties on 46 wedding halls for violating provincial food regulations and issued warning notices to 351 others.

PFA spokesman said all catering companies were sealed for serving stale and substandard food products to their customers. He said the authority had discarded a huge quantity of stale food that would have been served in wedding functions. He highlighted that PFA teams were checking wedding halls and catering companies on daily basis for ensuring good quality food in wedding ceremonies. “The authority is bringing wedding halls and catering companies under PFA regime by issuing new licenses,” he said.

“Besides inspections and raids,” he said, “the provincial food watchdog, in collaboration with Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, has initiated free medical screening of workers and street vendors selling food products in different areas of the city.” “The authority has set up makeshift screening camps in different areas from where small food vendors can get free medical screen services. After requisite medical tests vendors will be issued certificates and only those vendors will be allowed to conduct food business who are free from any disease,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2018.