KP Food Safety and Halal Food Authority discarded over 50,000 litres of counterfeit cold drinks in two different crackdowns here on Thursday. The crackdowns were carried out in night time at Nowshera and early morning at Acheni area of Peshawar. In Ramazan till date more than fourteen food and cold drinks production units being sealed in various crackdowns.
Under the directives of Director General Food Authority Riaz Khan Mahsud, Night squad of the authority raided a cottage industry situated in Acheni where counterfeit cold drinks were seized inside a production unit. Director General added that misbranding in cold drinks was a much common practice, but due to authority's crackdowns the business is now limited to suburban and rural areas.
"Both production units being sealed, and machinery of the units were also confiscated. Nobody has the right to play with public's health. Copying the national and international brand earns a bad name for the province discouraging food sector investors" Director General added.
Director Operations and captain of the night squad Khalid Khan Khattak while giving details maintained that information regarding fake cold drinks were shared on Emergency Response Unit. The teams responded under his supervision and seized more than thirty thousand litres of produced fake drinks of various brands.
"More than twenty thousand litres of counterfeit drinks were also discarded from containers as production was continuing at the time of raid. Cottage industry is the major source of adulteration and misbranding while in KP it's hard to raid a home without authentic information, night squad captain disclosed.