PFA cracks down on spice adulterating unit

450 kilograms of adulterated chilies seized

LODHRAN:

People involved in spice adulteration have become under the radar of the Punjab Food Authority.

A team raided a grinding unit in Ada Baguwala in Lodhran Tehsil.

Four-hundred-and-fifty kilograms of adulterated chilies were seized besides a grinding machine and other equipment, and an FIR was registered against the owners.

Two persons have also been arrested. The owners of the spice mill were allegedly mixing colors in the spices. During a test, color-mixing was found in pepper.

The adulterated pepper was to be packed and supplied to various grocery stores and hotels.

On this occasion, the director-general of food authority said that hotel owners should not use open and adulterated chilies in their meals.

Rao Ehsan-ul-Haq, president of the central association of traders, said that unfortunately adulteration had started on a larger scale in the area.

“Why the administration and the police do not check the people involved in this business? It is also the responsibility of the civil society and business officials to identify the mafia and punish them so that full legal action can be taken against the so-called businessmen who are playing with human lives,” said the president of the traders’ association.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2022.