School cafeteria favourites: Sale of chips, carbonated beverages banned

K-P food authority gives grace period to other items

PESHAWAR: School and college going students have been deprived of sugary and starchy snacks after the provincial food authority banned the sale of substandard chips, and carbonated drinks on campuses.

The ban was announced by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Food Authority Director General Riaz Mahsud during a news conference on Thursday.

Mahsud explained that a scientific committee comprising of more than 20 scholars and food experts had put their heads together to deliberate over which items should be allowed and which should not.

The committee, he said, had proposed to ban the sale of eight edible items in schools and colleges including soft drinks, energy drinks, chips and papadom which have already been reported as being hazardous. Other items banned include sub-standard ice cream and other similar products due to the potential use of non-food grade colours, flavours and other hazardous ingredients.



Moreover, he suggested that there was a possibility that this ban may be extended to university campuses in the future.

The food authority chief said that the committee has proposed to ban the sale of loose spices, salts, sauces and coloured crackers — however, these have been afforded a grace period of a year.

The committee also proposed a ban on calcium carbide for ripening fruits and replace it with ethylene or any other ripening agent.

It was decided that a grace period of two years shall be granted to replace the use of the chemical, after which it would be considered as completely banned.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2018.