Health hazard: Ghee makers summoned to court
Citizen files petition, claims manufacturers use second-rate tin canisters to package ghee and oil.
KARACHI:
The ministry of industries, production and special initiatives and oil manufacturers were summoned to the Sindh High Court in a case against the substandard packaging of ghee and vegetable oil.
A common citizen named Imran Shehzad filed the constitutional petition, claiming that manufacturers were using second-rate tin canisters to package ghee and vegetable oil. He added that this could be potentially harmful to consumers.
He also named the science and technology federal secretary, Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQA), chief secretary, Sindh health secretary and Pakistan Medical Association in the petition. Shehzad argues that low quality packaging is used at the oil mills so they can scrimp on new tins. He said that the ministry of industries, production and special initiatives had issued an office memorandum banning them from reusing oil and ghee canisters as it was hazardous for human consumption and potentially fatal.
The petitioner asked the court to direct the officers named in the petition to ban reusing canisters in Sindh as is practiced in the Punjab.
An SHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Musheer Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi heard the petition on Friday and ordered that notices be issued to the respondents for a date to be fixed later.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2011.
The ministry of industries, production and special initiatives and oil manufacturers were summoned to the Sindh High Court in a case against the substandard packaging of ghee and vegetable oil.
A common citizen named Imran Shehzad filed the constitutional petition, claiming that manufacturers were using second-rate tin canisters to package ghee and vegetable oil. He added that this could be potentially harmful to consumers.
He also named the science and technology federal secretary, Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQA), chief secretary, Sindh health secretary and Pakistan Medical Association in the petition. Shehzad argues that low quality packaging is used at the oil mills so they can scrimp on new tins. He said that the ministry of industries, production and special initiatives had issued an office memorandum banning them from reusing oil and ghee canisters as it was hazardous for human consumption and potentially fatal.
The petitioner asked the court to direct the officers named in the petition to ban reusing canisters in Sindh as is practiced in the Punjab.
An SHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Musheer Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi heard the petition on Friday and ordered that notices be issued to the respondents for a date to be fixed later.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2011.