Food adulteration: PFA set to launch fresh crackdown
‘We have decided to check companies producing ghee and cooking oil’.
LAHORE:
The Punjab Food Authority (PFA), after getting the control of the Food Testing Laboratory from the district administration, is all set to launch a crackdown on the manufacturers of substandard ghee and cooking oil and the shopkeepers frying fish in a poor-quality ghee.
Also on the Punjab Food Authority request, the district and sessions judge has directed judicial magistrates in the city to decide cases registered against food adulterators at the earliest and award rigorous imprisonment to the guilty.
Talking to Daily Express, Punjab Food Authority Director General Asad Islam Mani said he was also lobbying to enter an agreement with laboratories being run by the Punjab Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Livestock Department.
He said he had called on the DSJ and requested him to give exemplary punishments to food adulterators.
He said that after a comprehensive campaign against packed milk, they had now decided to check companies producing ghee and cooking oil because public complaints against these companies were increasing.
He said he had directed Operations Director Dr Masood Ashraf to raid fish-selling shops in the city and examine the ghee they were using to fry the fish. He said he had directed to waste substandard ghee or oil on the spot.
He said PFA officials would soon deliver lectures on food adulteration in schools.
He said that Rs1.6 worth of million fines had been collected so far from food adulterators.
He said two factories had been sealed and Rs190,000 fines collected in Allama Iqbal Town, four factories sealed and Rs135,000 fines collected in Nishtar Town, four factories sealed and Rs250,000 fines collected in Shalimar Town, a factory sealed and Rs210,000 fines collected in Samanabad Town, two factories sealed and Rs220,000 fines collected in Gulberg Town, one factory sealed and Rs Rs125,000 fines collected in Aziz Bhatti Town, one factory was sealed and Rs160,000 fines collected in Data Gunj Bukhsh Town, seven factories sealed and Rs200,000 fines collected in Ravi Town and a factory had been sealed and Rs10,5000 fines collected in Wahga Town.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2012.
The Punjab Food Authority (PFA), after getting the control of the Food Testing Laboratory from the district administration, is all set to launch a crackdown on the manufacturers of substandard ghee and cooking oil and the shopkeepers frying fish in a poor-quality ghee.
Also on the Punjab Food Authority request, the district and sessions judge has directed judicial magistrates in the city to decide cases registered against food adulterators at the earliest and award rigorous imprisonment to the guilty.
Talking to Daily Express, Punjab Food Authority Director General Asad Islam Mani said he was also lobbying to enter an agreement with laboratories being run by the Punjab Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Livestock Department.
He said he had called on the DSJ and requested him to give exemplary punishments to food adulterators.
He said that after a comprehensive campaign against packed milk, they had now decided to check companies producing ghee and cooking oil because public complaints against these companies were increasing.
He said he had directed Operations Director Dr Masood Ashraf to raid fish-selling shops in the city and examine the ghee they were using to fry the fish. He said he had directed to waste substandard ghee or oil on the spot.
He said PFA officials would soon deliver lectures on food adulteration in schools.
He said that Rs1.6 worth of million fines had been collected so far from food adulterators.
He said two factories had been sealed and Rs190,000 fines collected in Allama Iqbal Town, four factories sealed and Rs135,000 fines collected in Nishtar Town, four factories sealed and Rs250,000 fines collected in Shalimar Town, a factory sealed and Rs210,000 fines collected in Samanabad Town, two factories sealed and Rs220,000 fines collected in Gulberg Town, one factory sealed and Rs Rs125,000 fines collected in Aziz Bhatti Town, one factory was sealed and Rs160,000 fines collected in Data Gunj Bukhsh Town, seven factories sealed and Rs200,000 fines collected in Ravi Town and a factory had been sealed and Rs10,5000 fines collected in Wahga Town.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2012.