PFA sealed a factory manufacturing fake carbonated drinks

Lahore : The Punjab Food Authority on Wednesday sealed of different popular brands and discarded 6,000 litres of hazardous beverages during a raid in the area of Iqbal Colony, Lahore.

On the tip-off, PFA’s vigilance and operations teams under the supervision of its Director General Irfan Memon raided a factory and caught a huge consignment of spurious drinks which had to supply in the market in order to meet the growing consumption of drinks on the eve of upcoming Eid.

Irfan Memon said that PFA has confiscated 6,000 litres of carbonated drinks; 3,500 empty bottles, two filling machines, five gas cylinders, fake labels and bottle lids during the raid. He said that the factory was not only producing counterfeited drinks but also using untraceable artificial sweeteners, saccharine, chemicals, loose colours and contaminated tab water. He said that raw material of counterfeited drinks was also preserved in the non-food graded drums.

He further said that use of spurious drinks which prepared without formula lead to stomach ulcer, cancer and other diseases. He said that the Punjab Food Authority is doing work day and night under the zero-tolerance policy against food adulterators and counterfeiters in Punjab. DG urged that people should ‘prefer homemade food’ instead of consuming readymade products.

On the other hand, PFA has sealed nine food points during different raids in Punjab. A meat safety team sealed Qaiser Chicken Shop in Gujranwala for not adopting cone slaughtering system and selling meat of emaciated and dead chicken. PFA Sialkot team shut down Arshad Spices Grinding unit on account of adulteration. Meanwhile, the raiding team has confiscated 540kg substandard chilli.

Further, food authority sealed Samar Cold Drink and Goriya Stationary (cold corner) for selling fake carbonated drinks in Narrowal Sabzi Mandi (vegetable market). A dairy safety team of PFA Sialkot sealed Hafiz Milk Shop for selling poor quality milk, worst condition of hygiene and failing to meet the food standards. The authority has disposed of 60 litre milk after confiscating from the spot.

Similarly, PFA watchdog team raided Friends Food Products and sealed it in Multan over improper labelling, prepared juices with untraceable ingredients and for failing to control insects.

Furthermore, the PFA Bahawalnagar team closed down Ideal Foods Mango Flavoured Drink for using artificial sweeteners, unfiltered water and doing business without getting food license from the competent authority. In another raid, PFA has sealed Osama Ice Factory due to selling substandard desi ghee, spices and other edibles.

In Layyah, Chaudhry Ice Factory was shut down by PFA over non-compliance of authority instructions. Apart from that, workers of the factory did not have medical certificates. The authority has discarded 131kg spices, 144 juice bottles and 30kg substandard sweets along with served 196 warning notices to eateries.