Contamination in food

The best way to ensure public health is by having checks over food suppliers.

Finally, it appears that a fraction of the people in authority might have some concern for the quality of life of its citizens. The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) is planning to launch a crackdown on milk suppliers, who have been supplying contaminated milk. Milk — a substance used by everyone from babies to senior citizens — containing vast impurities has been sold. Sometimes it is made using dry powder, oil and water. At other times, the cream is removed and substituted with industrial fats, including those that are used in soap production. In order to whiten the milk, hair-removal powder and bleaching agents are added.

The plan to crackdown by authorities is a highly welcome initiative. The best way to ensure public health is by having such checks over food suppliers. In a country ridden with all sorts of ailments, such controls must also be extended to other food and drink industries. Restaurants and factories all across Pakistan should be visited with regular inspections, regardless of the ratings of the restaurant. Everyone deserves to consume hygienic substances in a clean, healthy environment, whether they pay Rs20 or Rs75 for the same water bottle.

Restaurants without proper licensing and hygiene checks by competent officials and properly trained health safety inspectors should not be allowed to operate in the first place. The leniency in unregulated standards is partly also the fault of patrons. We have all seen reports of stray cats jumping over buckets of ras malai or the stray hair strand or fly lying next to the kaju barfi at the dessert shop. Rather than boycotting these vendors, we ask the waiter to serve us a piece from the other side of the tray and ignore the fact that not one person in the entire kitchen is wearing gloves while handing us a straw. We also ignore it when vendors cough right over the food, covering their mouths, but not washing their hands upon continuing to serve food. It is high time that health policies are implemented and better care is taken of our citizens’ health.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2012.