‘Don’t put honey in blue plastic cans’

PESHAWAR: Honey traders in the province have been barred from using large blue cans for storing honey, which is produced in abundance in the province.

According to a notification issued by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority on Thursday, that traders have until August to source and procure alternative storage solutions. The authority said the blue cans are used to import and store carcinogenic chemicals. Once they are discarded by the companies, they are reused by honey traders to store their product.

This, however, poses a risk to health since chemical residue can be mixed with the honey. The trader’s union, owing to the notification, said that they have already adopted alternative containers to store honey, adding that they were encouraging the use of food-grade cans for storing the nectar.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2018.