Sindh Food Authority made 'fully functional' in Karachi

KARACHI:The provincial government of Sindh has announced to make Sindh Food Authority (SFA) fully functional following a number of cases reporting unhygienic and contaminated food across different eateries.

The SFA, which will be fully operational in Karachi at first, will work to ensure the availability of safe food products and to regulate other food related services in the city. The body will branch out to other districts gradually.

The Minister of Food and Parliamentary affairs Nisar Ahmed Khuhro made this announcement at a press conference. He further stated that the provincial food authority has been established following a law passed by the Sindh Assembly on March 8, 2017.

The government has established a board of governors for the SFA whose domain will gradually be expanded to the services of the entire province. The food minister will head the board along with the health secretary and food secretary who will act as vice chairman and convener, respectively.

Other members of the board would include provincial secretaries of the departments of culture, agriculture, social welfare, local government, public health engineering as well as three nominated members of the Sindh Assembly and a representative of the chamber of commerce and industry. Deputy commissioners posted in different districts of the province would also be members of the board.

According to the minister, the authority’s primary objective is to inspect hotels, restaurants, food markets, food industries, bakeries, dairy and meat shops, mineral water companies, departmental stores and other food-related outlets and industrial units.

The aim is to eradicate the concerns about the quality of the food products provided to the public, he said. “A thorough inspection will take place following a collection of samples of food and edible items that will be collected from such units and retail outlets and will be sent to laboratories for further inspection. In case they are found unfit for human consumption, the sellers and manufacturers would be penalized through fines and other punishments in accordance with the Sindh Food Authority Act 2016.”

The food minister further said that the SFA has already identified some 523 substandard food and edible products having harmful effects whose sale would not be allowed.