Politics of protest: Restaurateurs threaten agitation against PFA

Say the authority is stepping beyond its mandate in an ongoing campaign

LAHORE:

A restaurant owners’ association has asked the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) to stop ‘harassing’ restaurants in the city in its social media campaign. It has threatened province-wide agitation in case the campaign does not end.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Lahore Restaurant Owners’ Association general secretary Ahmad Shafiq alleged that the PFA officials were transgressing the authority vested in their offices under the law in a campaign to ensure food quality standards at restaurants and food businesses of the city.

Read: Food quality: Restaurants at PC, Avari among others fined for poor hygiene

He said the PFA was maligning the reputation of national and multinational brands through a campaign on the social media. “It is unjustified and beyond its mandate,” he said.

He asked the provincial government to take notice of the matter and stop the PFA from harassing restaurant owners. Otherwise, he said the association would be compelled to start a protest campaign.

Shafiq said the PFA raids at restaurants had become a routine and were hurting their business. He said the scope of the authority’s operations had been limited to Lahore. He said there was no check on restaurants in rest of the province. The situation there was worse, he added.

Shafiq suggested that rather than bullying the restaurants the PFA should guide them in improving hygiene and food quality standards.

“Restaurant owners pay millions of rupees in taxes and create job opportunities for dozens of people,” he said.

Crackdown continues

Meanwhile, PFA teams continued their campaign against sale of substandard food and violation of hygiene standards at restaurants and other food businesses in the city.

On Tuesday, separate teams raided and sealed Mama Kabab Faroosh on Temple Road; Lahore Broast in Ghari Shahu; Heera Chargha in Mozang; Italian Pizza and Domeno Hut in Shalimar Town; and Butt Sweets and Bakers, Doce Sweets and Bakers and Shahab Sweets in Ravi Town for poor hygiene and non-compliance with quality standards.

A Data Gunj Bakhsh Town team that had raided the Mama Kabab Faroosh said that the sauce served with kebabs at the restaurant was stored in an unclean container. They said the washing area at the restaurant was also unclean and there was no way to verify the source of ground meat used in the kebabs.

Read: Punjab Food Authority seals Fatburger outlet in Lahore

The team said that at Heera Chargha the entrance to the kitchen was flooded with water. Other violations included poor hygiene of the restaurant staff and lack of sanitation of the deep freezer, they said.

A Gulberg Town team sealed Lahore Broast for poor hygiene of the staff, use of unclean deep freezer and use of chicken kept in packets with no information on its quality. In Shalimar Town, Italian Pizza was sealed for lack of hygiene and operations without a PFA license and Demeno Hut for sale of substandard tomato ketchup. The team sealed Shahab Sweets for poor hygiene and Doce Bakery and Sweets for non compliance with its warnings over poor hygiene. Butt Sweets and Bakers was also sealed for non-compliance with warnings issued by a Ravi Town team over poor hygiene at their premises.

Popularity on social media

Meanwhile, internet traffic at a PFA website had seen a surge in the last couple of weeks. On Tuesday, the website was temporarily inaccessible due to an overwhelming volume of traffic. Several recent visitors at the PFA Facebook page had requested that a similar crack down on restaurants violating hygiene standards be launched in other cities of the province.

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