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PESHAWAR, Dec 13 (APP):Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Sohail Afridi here Saturday directed the Food Department to beef up actions against profiteering and hoarding of essential commodities.
He emphasized that the availability of food items at officially notified prices must be ensured across the province. Chairing an important meeting of the Food Department at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Peshawar, the Chief Minister also directed that field visits be increased to enhance public relief and facilitation, and that a comprehensive plan be devised to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains.
He further directed the department to take effective measures to enhance wheat storage capacity, stressing the adoption of modern technology and world best practices for storage.
The meeting was briefed on the province’s wheat supply and demand situation and was informed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s annual wheat requirement stands at 5.3 million metric tons. Of this, 1.4 million metric tons are met through local production, while the remaining 3.8 million metric tons are procured from other provinces.
It was further informed that over the past six months, the Food Directorate carried out 186,312 inspections of food-related businesses. During these inspections, 8,802 shops were challaned and fines amounting to Rs. 31.408 million were imposed.
Briefing the meeting on the performance of the Food Safety and Halal Food Authority, it was informed that from January to December, 86,817 inspections were conducted, during which 403,191 kilograms/liters of unsafe and substandard food items were confiscated and discarded. During the same period, fines totaling Rs. 84.63 million were imposed.
The meeting was also informed that from January to December, mobile food testing laboratories conducted 14,213 food sample tests, of which 10,139 samples passed while 4,074 were declared unfit. During the same period, the Central Food Testing Laboratory tested 2,812 food samples, with 2,074 passing and 738 failing the quality tests.