LAHORE: The Punjab government on Friday inducted 30 more vehicles to the fleet of the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) to enhance operations capacity against the food adulteration mafia.
In this regard, a ceremony was held at PFA Headquarters. The Provincial Minister for Food Bilal Yasin handed over the vehicles to the PFA Director General Muhammad Asim Javaid.
On the occasion, he said that the PFA is working day and night to ensure a supply of quality and nutritious food across the province with limited resources. As many as 70 vehicles have been handed over to PFA in two phases. Earlier, Rs 200 million were being given in respect to vehicles rent before this, he said.
He further said that the example of PFA is above all other institutions which continue uninterrupted operations despite having fewer resources.
He said that testing of milk, meat and other food items is being done daily without any discrimination. Along with regular checking, food quality is also being checked through surprise visits and food sampling, he added.
Minister Food Bilal Yasin has appreciated the performance of PFA. He said that PFA inspected 325,039 food points in the last four months amongst 905 food points closed down and 35,743 FBOs penalized with Rs 426.7 million fine over violations. Similarly, the authority filed 359 cases against adulteration mafia in the respective police station over violations of the Punjab Pure Food Regulations.
He further said that more than 6,366 samples were sent to the laboratory to check the quality of the products supplied in the market.
The PFA enforcement teams have discarded 227,000 litres of adulterated milk; 568,000kg of unhygienic meat; 200,000 litres of fabricated carbonated drinks; 50,000 litres of substandard drinking water; 33,000kg of fake spices; 32,000 litres of oil and 13,000kg of pulses were destroyed during last few months.
Meanwhile, Bilal Yasin said that special measures were taken for the public interest and introduced 12 different programs by following the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
He said that PFA Meat Safety Task Force was introduced to properly keep check and balance on meat products’ purity and safety in Punjab. Similarly, a milk traceability system was launched to trace the journey of the milk from the farm to the store and house, he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024