Food safety and public awareness

Given the level of awareness and literacy rate of our public, the concept of consumer rights is an alien one for them. Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) and Food Regulatory Authority (FRD) are the custodians to ensure the availability of hygienic products to consumers but as per usual expectations of public institutions they also stand almost nonfunctional. Particularly in the holy month of Ramazan, the vestigial presence of these regulatory bodies is felt all the more when Iftar eateries mushroom all around.

The substandard ghee or oil used to fry eatables at roadside eateries is detrimental for human consumption. It turns toxic when it is used multiple times and for many days. Then the fried merchandise are laid uncovered at stalls exposed to dirt, smoke and germs. The confectioners observe no personal hygiene because nobody is there to ask them. The food not prepared and served hygienically is an offence under section 22(2) of Pakistan Hotels and Restaurants Act 1976.

People are not even aware of shelf life particularly of packaged or canned products. At shops in the peripheral areas almost everything is way beyond its expiry date. Not to speak of customers, shopkeepers too know nothing about the expiry date of the merchandise. The availability of the over-the-counter medicines which have crossed their best-before date at street shops is more life threatening.

Empty plastic bottles of mineral water are reused to serve water at local tea stalls though they are meant for a single use only. Similarly, it is a common scene that milkmen on their motorcycles carry milk in reused polyethylene barrels of toxic industrial chemicals. These days synthetic liquid milk is being sold uncurbed in clear violation of The Pure Food Ordinance 1960.

Animal slaughter houses and sale points of meat are another area that disobeys food regulatory authorities. The meat of unhealthy animals is being sold unmonitored at awfully unhygienic stalls. Meat can be seen hanged uncovered at butcher shops, while their chopping woods are fully covered with flies. Broiler sale points flout all the requirements of hygiene with blithe disregard. Instead of putting slaughtered chicken in recommended long neck cons for proper bleeding, it is put in a plastic barrel reserved for the castaway body parts of the broiler.

At downmarket food points, tissue paper rolls are seen to embellish the dining table. The ridiculous thing is the pictures on their wrappers show they are meant for washroom use, and that they are unhygienic for dining table use. Even the staff at the food points don’t have any iota of knowledge of their actual use.

School canteens, vendors and hawkers sell substandard and stale eatables at high prices within or near the school premises. They evade the short range radar of FRA. It has been observed that students of schools mostly suffer from digestive problems and water-borne diseases.

FRAs must be proactive first to stop the production and sale of substandard oil, and then they must reign in the confectioners from overusing the frying oil. It must also be made incumbent upon brands to add the tagline or voice-over in advertisement both on print and electronic media advising the customers to see expiry date before buying the merchandise. At restaurants, medicated tissue paper and quality hand sanitiser must be made compulsory.

An awareness campaign both on print and electronic media must be launched to make shopkeepers and customers cognizant of customers rights. FRAs must laser-focus on school canteens and eatables sold at or near schools. Pro-active PSQCA and FRA can reduce the number of patients visiting hospitals and medical clinics. The last users of goods and services are consumers. All taxes and levies that producers and service providers impose are passed on to consumers. Hence their safety be prioritised.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2023.

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