Quality compliance: Province-wide food audit under way

PFA DG has prepared a complete food law compliance checklist

LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has commenced a ‘food audit’ of the entire food services industry in the province, including all restaurants, cafes and other food vendors.

PFA Director General Capt (retd) Usman Younis has prepared a complete food law compliance checklist with the help of legal and technical experts for this purpose, officials from the authority told The Express Tribune.

But while all food manufacturing and preparation facilities will be inspected for the quality of food, in the initial phase no punitive action will be carried out against establishments found lacking, they said. Instead, the owners of such facilities will be given time to address any shortcomings.

According to PFA officials, the audit is initially focusing on factories and will gradually extend to food vendors. The audit is being carried out according to international standards and eight to 10 hours are being spent on the inspection of a single establishment, they added.

“The purpose of the food audit is to apprise those in the food business of food laws and standard operating procedures for quality assurance,” said Younis. “The compliance checklist we have prepared takes into account even minor considerations.”

“Whenever a PFA audit team carries out a visit, the establishment’s owner is informed that there will be no fine if any violation is discovered and no facilities will be sealed. Instead, the owner is given time to address the issue,” he said. “For now, the audit is being conducted without any charge but a fee may be defined for the service at a later stage.”

The PFA head added that facilities will be rated according to their audit results and that the authority is considering announcing some form of reward for the establishment that scores highest. “We will make this rating visible on our website so that consumers know what to expect from a particular food facility.”

Capt Younis pointed out that bigger vendors like restaurants have already been made compliant with food laws and the PFA is now focusing on street food vendors. “We want to ensure everyone gets quality food,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2019.