Crackdown: Operation launched against substandard food vendors

Draft bill seeks amendments to Pure Food Ordinance, 1960.

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has launched a 45-day campaign against substandard food vendors and adulterators.

CDA Health Officer Dr Hassan Urooj, who is supervising the operation, said his team would be scrutinising restaurant kitchens, bakeries, and sweet shops among others.

He said the team had sealed Hafiz Bakers, a confectionery in Sector G-8/4, on Saturday for having an unhygienic kitchen and using substandard oil.

Urooj said 2,000 food samples would be collected over the course of the operation, while all vendors found to have been selling substandard items would face a fine of Rs500 to 5,000.

A draft bill had been sent to parliament’s Standing Committee on Human Rights in 2012 suggesting amendments to the Pure Food Ordinance, 1960 and severe punishments for adulterators.

Urooj said vendors were using chemically-treated plastic containers to store drinking water and ordered them to be replaced with stainless steel tanks. He added that polythene, used by most vendors to wrap cooked food, released toxins and was carcinogenic.

Urooj said he would ensure that vendors were inoculated against contagious diseases, warning that fines would be imposed for resistance.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2013.