PFA sends suspect meat for lab exam

Driver held from the scene says it was pancreas meat used in industries

LAHORE: A Punjab Food Authority (PFA) team on Wednesday seized a large quantity of meat from the cargo terminal at the City railway station and sent a sample for laboratory examination to ascertain the meat type.

The team raided the terminal on a tip off that a shipment of pork was expected to arrive at the station for sale in the city. A PFA official who was part of the raiding team said the meat seized from the terminal had weighed nearly six maunds. He said the meat was stored in blue barrels.

A PFA official said investigation was underway. He said it would be pre-mature to say anything about the meat type. However, he said the way in which it had been transported had raised doubts. He said action would be taken over the issue in view of the laboratory findings.

The official said a driver who had come to the terminal to collect the meat had been taken into custody by police. He said the driver had identified himself as Mahboob Ahmad, a resident of Garden Town. The driver told the PFA team that his employer had been procuring the meat for several years from Rawalpindi and some other cities. He said it was pancreas meat which was used in production process by several industries, the PFA official said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of the incident after some television reports stated that the PFA had seized pork during the raid. In a statement released to the media, he said strict action would be taken against the culprits if it was established that it was forbidden meat.

The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on Wednesday sealed the canteen of the Kinnaird College for Women University over poor hygiene.

A PFA team found sub-standard ketchup, unlabeled food products, stale frying oil, rotten fruit and open dustbins in the canteen. The canteen management also failed to provide medical fitness certificates of the staff.

PFA’s Samanabad team fined cafeterias operating in the Punjab Group of Colleges over poor cleanliness.

Earlier, the PFA had sealed the production area of the Lahore Grammar School (LGS) canteen. A PFA Allama Iqbal Town team sealed Waris Hotel in Johar Town J-Block. The authority also fined a fast-food outlet on Jail Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2015.