Majority of the food items including milk, tea whitener, powdered milk and water in the country are substandard and some of them even contain chemicals extremely dangerous for health, hence resulting in increasing number of diseases. This was observed during a meeting of Senate Standing committee on Science and Technology that met here with Senator Usman Saifullah Khan in the chair here on Friday.
The panel was briefed on the standards developed for packaged milk, tea whitener and powdered milk. The committee expressed its concern over the low standard of milk, water and poultry farms in the country. Injections and antibiotics are used to increase the weight of chickens at poultry farms, Director General of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) informed the committee during the briefing.
Feed for the chickens are manufactured at factories which do not have the license to do so and provincial governments do not allow the authorities to run checks for these licenses, the Director General added. The Punjab government is issuing licenses to poultry farms without the permission of the Ministry for Science and Technology, the DG said, adding, and "poultry farms are a political issue."
The committee was also informed that water in the country was not fit for consumption. At least 84 per cent of the water samples tested in Sindh were found to be unfit for consumption, an official of the Pakistan Council of Research on Water Resources informed the committee. "In several areas of Karachi, bacteria and salt was found in drinking water," the council added.
The council further briefed the committee on the difference between whiteners and milk, saying that the factories producing do not have the licenses to do so. Expressing their concern, committee members summoned the chief secretaries of all four provinces to discuss the matter regarding drinking water.
DG PSQCA Mohammad Khalid Siddique informed the committee that 109 items including 38 food items are on the mandatory list of the institution. The committee expressed serious concerns on PSQCA for forwarding proposed Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) of tea/coffee whiteners to Ministry of Law and Justice without tabling it before the Senate body.
"The Senate body has directed in its last meeting that draft of SOPs would be presented before the committee for thorough discussion but the authority has not taken them on board rather sent the draft was directly to law ministry for vetting", committee members pointed out.
Milk manufacturing companies are big mafia, committee members remarked adding that they use their influence to stakeholders involved in setting SOPs favoring them utmost but parliamentarians are pubic representatives so they have grave concerns on these standards, they remarked. The chairman directed PSQCA to presents SOPs draft in the next meeting and also call representatives Ministry of Law and Justice to discuss the matter at this forum.
The committee was informed that 25 packaged liquid milk brands applied for license to PSQCA among which 21 got registered while two brands application is under process and litigation with two companies are going on including Gourmet Foods, Lahore and Doce Foods Lahore as they were not meeting the required standards of the authority.
Senator Mian Mohammad Atique Sheikh said that committee had given clear directives for taking it into confidence whenever such standards are being prepared. But in connivance with the institution standards were framed, while Parliament was not taken on board.
Senator Lieutenant General Abdul Qayum (r) said that tea whitener should be prepared as per the international standard. Due to sub-standard items, kidney, stomach and other issues are on the rise.
The committee chairman said that about 50 million people living the Indus River in Sindh and Punjab are compelled to use contaminated/unfit water. The committee was informed that 212 units involved in substandard and dangerous items were closed down during last two years. Oil and ghee are being sold after proper process. The committee was informed that PSQCA can check packed items while loose items could be checked by the local administration.
The parliamentary panel directed Pakistan Council for Research and Water Resources (PCRWR), to check water of all filtration plants installed in Islamabad Capital City (ICT) monthly to ensure safe drinking water for residents. Chairman PCRWR briefed the committee that they have tested water samples of 22 filtration plants of the capital among which quality of fifteen plants was found safe while seven was unsafe for human consumption.
The committee also approved the name of Senator Murtaza Wahab for the board of governor of National Institute of Oceanography. Additional Secretary Science and Technology Mohammad Ashraf informed that the number of board of governor is 20 where one each member from Senate and National Assembly is included. Earlier Saeed Ghani was nominated but notification was not issued. Notifications are being issued with the approval of Prime minister. The ministry had sent summary in 2014. The committee taking notice of delay in issuing notification asked for giving details in this regard. The committee was informed that the budget of PCRWR was Rs 2 million which increased to Rs 14 million. It has 24 offices across the country and the budget is not sufficient.