Hazardous goods worth millions disposed of

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority has disposed of a large quantity of unsafe and substandard food items confiscated during various operations across the Peshawar Division. According to officials, the seized items included hazardous beverages, spices, China salt, tea leaves, snacks, ketchup, pickles, milk packs, and other consumables which were discarded at a designated dumping site in Peshawar.

A spokesperson for the Food Authority provided details, stating that the confiscation of the food items occurred after they were recovered during different operations in the Peshawar Division. The spokesperson added that 202 bags of banned China salt, worth approximately Rs 3.64 million, were disposed of.

In addition, 580 cartons of substandard and unsafe juice, energy drinks, and packaged milk, worth around Rs 400,000, were also discarded. Moreover, over 3,400 kilograms of substandard and hazardous spices and wheat bran, valued at more than Rs2 million, were disposed of.

Further details revealed that during these operations, 10,000 liters of counterfeit beverages from various brands, with an estimated market value of Rs 1.2 million, were also seized and destroyed. Additionally, unsafe and substandard pickles weighing around 1,000 kilograms and worth Rs350,000 were discarded.

The spokesperson mentioned that the operations also led to the disposal of tea leaves, snacks, ketchup, tomato sauce, coffee, biscuits, chocolates, cooking oil, and vinegar, all of which were unsafe for consumption and valued at Rs 350,000.

The spokesperson further stated that all the seized and unsafe items were discarded under the supervision of Deputy Director Latif Rehman, Assistant Directors of Food Safety, and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Dr. Samiullah, following the directives of Director General Wasif Saeed. The disposal was conducted in accordance with SOPs at the dumping site established by WSSP on Charsadda Road.