Food fights

She is called “Dabang” by Shahid Qamar, who owns and runs a restaurant in Louisville in the US serving Pakistani cuisine. Ayesha Mumtaz, director of operations at the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), has become quite a celebrity in Pakistan.

To her credit, she has single handedly taken up an issue that remained ignored for so many years - the poor quality of food served at our restaurants and the unhygienic conditions it is prepared in.

One wonders why it took so long to take action on this issue, and why it is only in the Punjab and in KP that this sort of action is being taken.

Also to her credit, Ayesha Mumtaz has used the electronic and print media quite effectively to show how poor conditions are in the many highly regarded restaurants in cities like Lahore and Islamabad.

Nobody can argue if the camera captures rats in the kitchen or meat in near rotting state ahead of it being cooked. But, at the same time, restaurant owners have raised concerns over the arbitrary closing down of their businesses. One owner complained that despite having food licence and proper certificates, the PFA did not hear a single word and sealed his restaurant.

Another restaurant owner says that the action against his restaurant took place as he had not entertained a Chinese delegation and the provincial government thought it best to teach him a lesson. But these are mere allegations that will come and go.

What is important is that the PFA has taken on the restaurants and exposed their unhygienic food preparation practices. Restaurant owners, however, agree that all is not well but do insist that closing down their enterprises does not solve the problem.

In this regard, the initiative by the CDA in Islamabad to start training food handlers is a step in the right direction. But much more needs to be done. To quote Shahid  Omar, who wrote a piece for our paper, the operation against food business owners and restaurants might 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 such 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 then 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 their facility as well as that of the food they serve. While the PFA has now attempted to establish a grading system, it remains to be seen if this turns out to be effective.

The objective should be to help restaurants improve standards at 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 does not solve the problem. Until now, it seems the Punjab government has not developed a proper system that can help the PFA and Ms Mumtaz the only life saver run the show.

What will happen once Ms Mumtaz is gone?  Why aren’t lower level inspectors being trained for this job? Why wasn’t an effective inspection system developed before, that could keep an eye on all restaurants? If the purpose is to improve the quality of food provided and bolster the economy, then random, abrupt measures cannot solve the problem.

PFA should give a six-month deadline to restaurant owners, develop a restaurant inspection system, educate all restaurant owners regarding the right way to operate restaurants, and have them sit for a food hygiene test and get a restaurant operation license. This would lead to a permanent solution to the problem.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st,  2015.

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