LAHORE, Jun 12 (APP):The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on Wednesday unearthed a factory producing fake juices of different popular brands with artificial flavours in the provincial metropolis.
The PFA watchdog team conducted a raid under the supervision of Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin. The raiding team shut down the unit besides discarding over 11,000 litres of substandard juice and 3,432kg of fake labelling during the raid.
Provincial Food Minister Bilal Yasin said that the authority took action against the juice manufacturing unit after recovering thousands of litres of spurious juice and fake labelling. He said that harmful juices were being produced with artificial sweeteners, flavours, loose colours and hazardous chemicals.
He said that the team witnessed the wrong address on labelling, an abundance of insects, open drains, poor personal hygiene and an unhygienic working environment. Apart from that, FBO failed to present the necessary records to the competent authority like product registration and medical certificates of the workers.
Bilal Yasin said that adulterated ingredients were used to increase the thickness and quantity of juice. However, the use of chemically contaminated juice poses a threat to users’ health, especially children and elders.
He said, “We are active in the field against food adulteration mafia as per the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif.” While a crackdown is continued against those FBOs who sell adulterated products at cheap rates in the market, he added.
