Peshawar - Director General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority Shah Rukh Ali Khan on Monday said that the authority was going to establish a state-of-the-art food analysis laboratory in Peshawar for which PC-1 of worth Rs141.69-million had already been prepared. 

Speaking at a media briefing here, he said besides static lab two mobile food analysis laboratories would also be established with a cost of Rs52 million for divisional level. 

DG KP Food Authority said the authority had deputed all required staff and provided the required equipment to the Food Analysis Laboratory Hayatabad. The laboratory would be upgraded to state-of-the-art with procurement of additional high-tech machines. He said the lab would help the authority in eradication of food adulteration and provision of safe and healthy food to the public. 

Shah Rukh Ali Khan said that the authority initially started its work in seven divisional headquarters of the province, which was now extended to 15 more districts, where the food safety teams were ensuring quality food through various interventions.  

Similarly, he said, to stop the spread of communicable diseases through food outlets, the authority was establishing a central medical screening laboratory in Peshawar. A number of such labs would be established on divisional level in next stage. 

DG KP Food Authority said for transparency the authority had given special focus on digitisation, one such example was the geo-tagging of food businesses. He said the geo-tagging of food businesses would help the authority in improving field inspections and timely redressal of public complaints.  

“The authority has also established a complaint cell, where people could register their complaints and suggestions. The authority has also dedicated a toll-free number and WhatsApp number for the registration of complaints,” he maintained. 

He said the authority had also launched a new app with the name “Staso Raaye”, through which the users could review and get information about any food related business like restaurants, hotels, juice shops etc. “The app displays information posted by the food safety officers related to the overall fitness, cleanliness, and adulteration of a specific food outlet; while the users could also post their comments about the food business. Initially, the public can use the app in Peshawar, where it has been made functional,” DG KP Food Authority said.  

The DG further said that the authority was also working on introduction of model food shops in the province and so far had convinced many vendors to convert their shop to model food shop. He maintained that food safety teams under the on-spot sample testing on daily basis tested the quality of various food items such as milk, edible oil, tea leaves, meat and spices.  

He said the authority was also working to introduce on-spot licensing facility for the food handlers which would make the licence process easy and fast. He said to regulate the food sector businesses the food safety teams adopted both persuasive and punitive strategies.  

The food safety authority in terms of persuasive enforcement works in three main areas i.e. training, awareness and negotiations with business community. He said the authority conducted food handlers’ trainings from time to time.  

Similarly, 7229 improvement notices were served. During the course of action 273 businesses were sealed on violation of SOPs, and Rs7.2million of fine was imposed against them. In the first two months of the current year 2,822 food related businesses were registered with the authority, through which Rs9.6 million of funds were received to the authority