Regulating the industry: Coming soon… Punjab Food Authority

District Food inspectorate says the authority does not have the resources to start functioning before 6 months.

LAHORE:

Even though the Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Food Safety and Standards Authority Act in June last year, officials can’t seem to agree when the authority will become functional.

The authority will regulate the food industry and monitor the manufacturing, distribution, storage, sale and import of food. The government has appointed an acting chairman and a director general. The authority is scheduled to meet for the first time in a few weeks time.

Punjab Food Standards and Safety Authority (PFSSA) officials say that the District Food inspectorate will be dissolved into the authority by the end of February. However, district food officials insist that it will take another six months for the authority to take full charge.

Officials of the food authority told The Express Tribune that the authority will start functioning by the end of February from Lahore and expects to take charge in four districts of the Punjab – Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Multan – within a year.

District food officials, on the other hand, said that the authority had only created confusion. “We were earlier told to stop collecting food samples. Then the PFSSA changed its decision and told us to continue with our duties,” an official requesting anonymity said. The official said that food authority did not have the resources, human and financial, to start working yet.

“District Officer (Food) still has the authority to issue new licences,” he said, adding, “We cannot wait for the PFSSA to become operational.”

When contacted, PFSSA Director General Muhammad Asad Mahani told The Express Tribune that the PFSSA would become operational in Lahore by February 15. He said the authority had requested around Rs400 million from the Government of Punjab for establishing its offices in Lahore. Mahani said that during its first meeting the authority would take decisions regarding service structure and hiring of food inspectors.

“Not all food inspectors working with the District Food Office will be accommodated in the authority,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2012.