Clean up, don’t shut down restaurants

The PFA should give a six-month warning to restaurant owners, and educate them in operation and hygiene

In the last few weeks, Ayesha Mumtaz, director of operations at the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), has become quite a celebrity in Pakistan, as she is being seen in the country’s electronic and print media quite regularly due to her active role in raiding and sealing popular and high-profile restaurants in Punjab. Most of these restaurants have come under the scanner because of poor hygienic conditions there and the quality of food served, thus not meeting the requirements set by the PFA.

While I could not find Ms Mumtaz’s CV, or find a lot about her background, one can glean from her actions that she is not only a dabang administrator, but also an expert in the area of food hygiene. She has done a great job so far; however, until certain steps are implemented in an effective manner, this operation against restaurants in Punjab will probably end up like all other operations conducted during a critical phase of any natural disaster — without a follow-up, leaving millions of folks high and dry, without any sort of support. We witnessed this in the aftermath of the various flood disasters of the last few years. There was no plan for future rehabilitation for flood victims and they are still struggling to find proper help and support from the federal and provincial governments.

Unfortunately, this operation against food business owners and restaurants might also fail because it looks as if no obvious planning and warning system has been developed to rescue the food business. Even if there is any system in place, it has, so far, not been executed as it should have been. In the developed world, we do see filthy food environments at the back of a kitchen, but the local food authority does not raid these establishments and shut them down unless the food itself is found in a condition that might be deemed harmful for customers. If that is not the case, then the restaurant owners are given proper warnings and time so that they can rectify their kitchen issues. The authorities leave a big sticker on restaurant doors, showing the passing grade for the restaurant, enabling customers to decide if they want to eat in a neat and clean eatery or in a filthy environment. This forces restaurant owners to improve the quality of the facility as well as that of the food. While the PFA has now attempted to establish a grading system, it remains to be seen if it will turn out to be effective.

The objective should be to help restaurants improve the standards of their facility so that they can cater to more customers and earn more revenue, enabling the government to collect more sales and income tax. Shutting down restaurants and not putting in place a concrete system first, however, does not solve the problem. Until now, it looks as if the Punjab government has not developed a proper system that can help run the show and Ms Mumtaz is the only lifesaver for the PFA. What will happen once Ms Mumtaz is gone? Why is the director of operations forced to raid restaurants and why aren’t lower level inspectors being trained for this job? Why wasn’t an effective inspection system developed before, which could keep an eye on all restaurants? Why haven’t restaurants that were sealed given an advance warning to clean up their act and rectify their kitchen issues before being raided and shut down? If the purpose is to improve the quality of the food provided and bolster the economy, then random, abrupt operations cannot solve the problem.

It would be better if the PFA steps back for a while, gives a six-month warning to restaurant owners, develops a restaurant inspection system, educates all restaurant owners regarding the right way to operate a restaurant, and have them sit for a food hygiene test and get a restaurant operation licence from the PFA before they are allowed to run a food facility. This would be a permanent solution to the problem rather than trying to solve it in the short term and then taking it easy for the next few years until the next dabang Ayesha Mumtaz comes to the fore.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th,  2015.

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