Minor’s death triggers re-inauguration of food testing lab

At this stage, the lab is only equipped to test a range of spices, says Hyderabad commissioner

HYDERABAD: Around a decade after the inauguration of a food testing lab, established by former Hyderabad Nazim, the lab was inaugurated again on Thursday. The hectic development has been triggered by the death of a four-year-old child Muhammad Umar Mallah on December 31 after eating poisonous food from some eatery either in Hyderabad or Jamshoro.

The lab, which remained defunct for the decade, was inaugurated by Hyderabad Commissioner Muhammad Abbass Baloch and Sindh Food Authority Director General (DG) Amjad Laghari. It is located within the premises of Government Hospital Paretabad.



The commissioner said that the lab will be upgraded soon by equipping it with the latest tools. He said that the lab will provide testing service for all districts of Hyderabad division. Baloch hoped that the quality of cooked food being sold in Hyderabad and the adjoining cities would improve after the authority becomes functional in the region.

The commissioner said that he has requested the DG to provide staff and equipment for the lab and make it properly functional at the earliest. “The restaurants and eateries often keep expired edible items in their freezers which affect the health of the people consuming the food,” he observed.

The authority has appointed seven lab technicians at the lab. “At this stage the lab is only equipped to test a range of masala [spices],” according to an official. The equipment required for testing cooked food, milk and other items will be procured soon, he added.

The officials apparently geared into action after Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of Mallah’s death. The child’s twin sister also fell critically ill but survived after medical treatment.



The father, Abdul Sattar Mallah, said that his children ate chips, drank juice and perhaps also ate some other items. According to him, the edible items were bought in Jamshoro, where he works at a power generation company, and Hyderabad.

Following the incident the Cantt police in Hyderabad closed three eateries and detained their owners who were later released on personal surety.

The Hyderabad Cantonment Board also collected food samples from certain eateries and sent them for lab testing to Lahore.

The bereaved family has not registered an FIR of the incident as yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2019.