Hygiene Crackdown: Food outlets brought to task

In its on-going drive against contaminated food items, the Islamabad Ccapital Territory Administration fined 17 food outlets and issued notices to six hotels, restaurants and bakeries for failing to comply with food safety and hygiene laws. On-the-spot fines worth Rs20,000 were also imposed on the non-compliant outlets. According to a press release, the administration conducted 187 inspections of food outlets in the city and rural areas in the last week. Six notices and 17 fines were issued to hotels and bakeries over unhygienic kitchen conditions. Teams from the food and health departments also confiscated and disposed of filthy utensils during their inspections, while taking 33 food samples for laboratory analysis. Sanitary inspectors also delivered lectures on public health and highlighted the importance of hygiene and sanitation. The administration also ordered the vaccination of workers at these outlets, the statement said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2015.