The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has unearthed two illegal plastic manufacturing units producing plastic bottles for soft drinks after melting non-food grade and chemical contaminated bottles.
The operation was led by PFA Director General Captain (R) Muhammad Usman in the metropolis here on Thursday. The authority took into possession 100,0440 kilograms plastic granules (dana), 25,000 plastic bottles and 1,600 kilograms broken bottles during the raids. PFA officials conducted raids on the tipoff of PFA Vigilance cell against Riaz Bottle and Jameel Plastic Bottle (production units) in Lahore.
Muhammad Usman said that the chemical contaminated and rusty bottles were being recycled for refilling of beverages after crushing and melting in poor hygiene working environment. He said that usually, bottles supplied to different juice and cola drink manufactures. It is pertinent to mention here wasted bottles had purchased from different scrap shops at a fairly cheap price, however, bringing into practice after recycling, he said and added that it is posing a serious threat to the users’ health while causing diseases. He said that “BPA-free” plastic bottles is safe to drink out of. DG further said that food business operators can get benefit from the consultancy of PFA concerning food grade packing. He said that food adulterators could not hide himself from the eye of PFA. He added that food authority is taking all necessary steps to curb food adulteration in Punjab as per the vision of Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar.