The Punjab Food Authority’s enforcement teams on Wednesday sealed 21 food points over multiple violations of the Punjab Pure Food Regulations. PFA watchdog teams also served warning notices for improvement to 472 food joints.
The authority sealed milk shops, snacks production units, paan shops, BBQ points, general stores and other eateries while carrying out an operation against counterfeiters and to control the wicked practice of adulteration.
PFA Director General Irfan Memon said that PFA is not only checking the general stores but also vigilantly monitoring the suspicious activities of the adulteration mafia. He said that the PFA raided various premises and sealed many eateries and production units besides imposing Rs330,000 fine on 65 food business operators.
He said that PFA team raided Cheery Food Industry on Javed Nagar Sheikhupura Road Lahore and sealed it for manufacturing snacks with expired ingredients like rancid oil, spices and artificial flavours. He said that team also witnessed the presence of lizards, rats, insects and cobwebs in the production area.
Dairy safety team of PFA Lahore closed down five milk shops over found low level of LR and natural fats in milk besides the contamination of polluted water. The teams have sealed these shops in the area of Chungi Amar Sadhu. He said Punjab Food Authority will not allow any food business operator to produce or sale substandard food in the market.
PFA Bahawalpur team sealed Line Heart Shawarma Point and Kamran Cold Store for preserving food at foot level, failing to produce temperature control record and not paying the license fee. A team of PFA shut down Pervaiz Paan Shop in Multan for selling gutka. The sale of gutka is strictly prohibited in Punjab after the PFA imposed a ban on it.
Further, PFA sealed Kham Dasti Hotel in Layyah and Hammad Department Store in DG Khan for selling not submitting the fine amount, selling loose spices and not complying with authority instructions. The authority also sealed three food points in Raheem Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar and Rajpur.
In Gujranwala, the provincial food regulatory body has sealed Adnan Chicken Shop and New Sardar Bakery for not having manufacturing and expiry dates on products, poor cleanliness arrangements, using newspaper to cover edibles and not paying the license and fine amounts.
PFA Sialkot team sealed Shahzad Tika for not taking proper measures to control pests, worst condition of hygiene and not having expiry dates on products. PFA watchdog team shut down Wahid Tea Stall and Ramzan Butt Milk Collection Centre in Mandi Bahauddin whereas officials sealed Lahori Murgh Chanay in Narrowal.
Jinnah Town team raided Abdul Ghaffar Bassan Chaki (grinding unit) on account of adulteration in Faisalabad. During the operation, the authority discarded 3,283 litre adulterated milk, 375-litre beverages, 75kg cream, 200 gutka packets, 207kg red chilli and 20kg spices.