Punjab Food Authority to impose ban on loose milk

Pasteurisation units will be set up to ensure provision of pure milk

LAHORE: In a bid to provide healthy, pure and uncontaminated milk to consumers, the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has decided to ban the sale of loose milk across Lahore, making it the model city for the pilot project. Instead, only pasteurised milk will be available for sale in the near future.

The ban on the sale of loose milk is expected to be imposed after Eid. In relations to the ban, the Punjab Food Authority officials said that Prime Minister Khan is very serious when it comes to ensuring the provision of safe and pure milk to locals and, per his directives, the ban will be swiftly implemented.

In April, the provincial food minister, provincial livestock minister and director general Punjab Food Authority, together with experts, held a meeting in which a decision was taken to rid Lahore of impure, tampered with, and chemically-prepared milk. As a result, a pilot project was initiated to implement the decision.

According to PFA authorities, prior to the implementation of the decision after Ramazan, awareness regarding pasteurised milk will be raised in Lahore and all over Punjab. In this regard, provincial minister food Samiullah Chaudhry said that PM Imran Khan’s vision to provide pure and uncontaminated milk to consumers is their mission.

“After making Lahore the model city, the project will be initiated across the province,” Chaudhry said.

Similarly, Provincial minister livestock Sardar Hasnain Bahadur Dareshak said that the milk-tampering mafia can only be stopped through the imposition of a ban on loose milk, adding that the ban will benefit farms that produce pure milk.

According to PFA officials, pasteurisation units will be set up in the model city of Lahore to ensure the provision of pasteurised milk, adding that the discussions related to the selection of a place for the installation of plants and their construction have already been carried out.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2019.