After blockade of inter-provincial smuggling and misreporting of the quantity of flour produced, a large number of mills in Punjab have begun mixing maize and broken rice in the wheat to earn illegal profits.
The practice has resulted in increasing public complaints about adulterated flour with substandard quality and taste of bread. The Punjab Food Authority and the provincial food department appear unable to ensure the quality of the floor produced.
According to office-bearers of the flour mills association, the coat of producing adulterated flour is about Rs250 per bag less than the standard produce.
The sources said lack of inspection by the authorities concerned had also resulted of mixing subsidised wheat with that used to produce flour for sale at the market rate.
After steps taken by the caretaker government bridged a large price gap between the official outlets and open market, smuggling and illegal grinding of wheat were stopped.
Read Two accused of manufacturing adulterated injection held
However, flour mills have found a new way of earning illegal income by mixing white corn and broken rice while grinding wheat.
There have also been complaints of adulteration in the flour supplied by the food department.
It is a crime under official rules to mix any item with wheat while producing flour. The flour produced in such a way is of poor quality.
The current official wheat price per kg is Rs118, while maize costs Rs50 and broken rice Rs80.
Complaints bout the adulteration have been received over the past two months but the government departments concerned have failed to take effective action to curb it.
The sources said the flour mills had exerted pressure a few years ago to bar the Punjab Food Authority from inspecting the mills and the flour produced by them.
The provincial food secretary had suggested to the PFA director general in June that under the Food Authority Act, it had the primary duty to ensure food safety and quality.
Read more Use of detergent in milk shocks citizens
The secretary stated in a letter that the authority should collect flour samples from the dealers in the market and test them.
However, flour mills association had filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court, pleading that the food department was imposing unconstitutional restrictions on the inter-provincial transportation of wheat flour and the directives of the food authority were illegal.
The high court had declared that the issue of flour checking by the authority would be heard along with other related petitions.
Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Chairman Asim Raza said while speaking to The Express Tribune that there had been a sharp increase in the complaints of adulteration.
He said the association was concerned that the people should get quality flour.
He said the association had made clear to the food department that it would never support any flour mill involved in adulteration.
PFA Additional DG Asif Dogar said the authority's legal team was working to pursue the court case. "It is our responsibility to prevent all kinds of food adulteration," he added.
Sources in the flour milling industry said some mills were selling flour at Rs2,350 per bag for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, while pure flour could not cost less than Rs2,550.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2023.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ