Absent authority : SFA sleeps as substandard eateries thrive

Most restaurants, food-related businesses operate without registration

KARACHI:

Despite the existence of various laws to regulate food quality, eateries in the metropolis have managed to continue serving harmful additives to the public.

Some five years ago the provincial government established the Sindh Food Authority (SFA), with the aim to regulate and monitor food businesses and formulate standards and guidelines in this regard. However, numerous restaurants, dhabas and bakeries set up in the city’s nooks and crannies manage to bypass all standards set by the SFA.

Although law necessitates the possession of a prescribed registration and a valid license for any food business to operate within Sindh, it appears that the legal obligation has largely remained on paper and is seldom translated in practice.

Under such circumstances, the public has been left to bear the brunt of various acts of gross negligence within the local food industry; oftentimes leading to potentially life-threatening situations.

“We got chicken sticks from a bakery in Defence Housing Authority Phase-I last weekend. My wife and children barely survived the food poisoning they got from it,” complained Ali Azmat, a citizen. “When I approached the bakery’s owner, he seemed to have no guilt or any fear of repercussions.”

Azmat’s case is not an isolated incident but rather one among many. This raises several questions about the responsibility of the provincial food authority and the many loopholes within its often exploited system.

Per the department’s own website, its scope extends far beyond simply monitoring and regulating Sindh’s eateries. The government body is required to keep a watchful eye on the overall workings of the province’s food businesses, including the manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution, import, export, catering, etc.

A field survey conducted by The Express Tribune in this regard revealed that a shocking 90 per cent of related businesses in Karachi’s urban centres have been operating without being registered with the food authority.

“I don’t know if there is any law about the registration of food facilities. I have been running this business for the last eight years and no one has come to ask me about it,” said Hafiz Shehzad, a local restaurateur, when asked about his eatery’s credibility.

“My restaurant is popular among students from the nearby university. Most afternoons, one cannot even find a place to sit. If I were serving harmful substances in my food, why would so many people [come to] my restaurant every day?”

Shehzad’s views seem to resonate with most food business owners operating sans-licenses.

A part of this is owed to the limited activity of the now five-year-old food authority. Although food safety officers have the legal right to crack-down on any food business to validate their compliance with the law, they are only seen to launch into action following some kind of public outcry.

However, the outcry too is short-lived and in most cases, people tend to settle for financial settlements instead of opting for legal charges against the business.

For instance, not too long ago, two children lost their lives after dining at a famous Clifton restaurant, followed by cotton candy from a shop outside the Seaview amusement park.

Although the case made headlines across the country and garnered public backlash, the family of the deceased eventually pardoned the owner in lieu of financial compensation.

Owing to cases like such, business owners too have grown more confident about their less-than-legal operations.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, SFA Administration Director Mahfooz Kazi, said that his department is currently working towards establishing a food testing laboratory in collaboration with the University of Karachi.

This testing facility was first promised in 2016, in the same law under which the food authority was established. But Kazi believes that despite the passing of half a decade, the facility still requires a few months to come into being.

On the other hand, talking about action against non-compliant eateries, Kazi said that 47 food safety officers have been appointed in the province to check and monitor restaurants and other food related facilities. “We have recently sealed 17 water companies that were supplying contaminated water to consumers,” he claimed, adding that dozens of restaurants have also been sealed for violating the law, and rules prescribed by food authority.

Yet, for the hundreds of unregistered food businesses in the megacity, legal-action still appears to be due on the 12th of never, or until another incident makes headlines.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2021.