In the scorching summer heat of Karachi, sherbet is in high demand. But while a chilled drink, at a cheap price, provides temporary relief, the artificial food colour (rung) being added as an ingredient to prepare these drinks is extremely injurious to health, Pakistan Today has learnt.Sherbets are currently being sold on around 5,500 hand and pushcarts in different areas of the metropolis, claims a current report of the Revenue Department. Others estimates put this number at 8,000. But not a single vendor is ever checked. Liaquat, a pushcart vendor at Quaidabad, told Pakistan Today that that he buys different juices from the market and adds various ingredients to amplify their volume. This ensures that the cost of making a sherbet is low while profits are high.
“I add fabric colour to buy the juices for appearance, and mix sucrose for extra sweetness,” Liaquat said. “Ice worth Rs 100 has to be bought thrice a day, and I store it in a wooden box so that it doesn’t melt. I earn a good amount by the end of the day. Dr Abid Hussain, former chairman of the Food Science and Technology Department at the University of Karachi said that flavoured additives slowly damage different organs of the human body. “Fabric dyes that are used in these drinks may also cause cancer,” he argued. But those selling these drinks are more concerned with business than health. Fateh, a vendor who had parked his pushcart some distance away from Liaquat, chose red as his colour of choice.
“My sherbet contains Roof Afza, lemon and flavour additives. I charge Rs 5 for a glass, and make Rs 1,000 by the end of the day,” he said. For Fateh, buying sugar to mix in his sherbet is very expensive. “Who is going to add sugar in a Rs 5 sherbet in these times of inflation? Sucrose worth Rs 50 adds more sweetness to a drink than sugar worth Rs 400. What more can we ask for?” Over in Saddar, a number of vendors sold “lemon juice” – only that lemon was not really an ingredient. “Who is going to give you real lemon juice in these times of inflation? The reality is three jugs of juice cannot be made out of half a kilogram of lemon. We buy half a kilo of lemons every day, so that the customer believes he is drinking real lemon juice.
The reality is that we use additives. If we mix real lemons, the price of sherbet will go up and no one will buy our drinks,” a vender in the Saddar area told Pakistan Today. Similar was the story narrated by Rustam, a pushcart vendor parked near the Cantt Station. “I sell juice in summers and kehwa in winters,” he said. “Sugar is very expensive, so we add flavour additives to our drinks.” In Sohrab Goth, a vendor who goes by the name of “Lala” said that he usually prepares a bucket of sherbet with a 10-rupee Rooh Afza sachet, 15-rupees worth of ice, and flavour additive worth Rs 15. Lala went on to say that he sells three buckets a day. and each bucket earns him about Rs 180.
When Pakistan Today contacted Health Executive District Officer (EDO) Dr Javaid Nasir, he claimed that he will investigate the matter. “I am unable to do anything in this case, as the government took away our magisterial powers in 2001. We test all harmful substances at our laboratory, and recommend necessary action to the police or Revenue Department.” Dr Nasir further argued that if any irregularity is reported to the department, food inspectors visit the vendor and personally buy the edibles. These are then tested in their laboratory. Revenue EDO Matanat Ali, however, did not respond to Pakistan Today despite repeated attempts.
