Shopkeepers in the city are openly violating food bylaws as most do not clean their shops and leave foodstuffs uncovered while the Health Directorate of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) looks the other way. Pakistan Today discovered that such violations are rampant in most of the market areas of the city, including Aabpara, Melody Market, Faizabad, Super and Jinnah Super. It was also observed that such unhygienic practices are most common in small bakeries and milk shops.
Under the food by-laws upheld by the Health Directorate every shopkeeper must maintain a certain level of hygiene and cleanliness in their premises, keep food items covered and inaccessible to flies, and ensure that all employees take care of heir personal hygiene and are medically fit. However, CDA has failed to ensure the implementation of these clauses as many of the city’s shopkeepers openly breach them, exposing citizens to numerous health hazards. Many owners of the meat shops and bakeries display meat and confectioneries items without any proper cover, while shopkeepers and restaurants not only fail to maintain hygiene, but also sell substandard foodstuffs without any checks from the authorities.
Shopkeepers told Pakistan Today that CDA’s food inspectors do not visit the markets for months. Most of the shopkeepers are aunaware of the existence of CDA’s food bylaws. A number of shopkeepers, especially those who establish ‘samosa and pakora’ stalls in front of their shops, conceded that they bribed food inspectors to keep them away while others claimed that food inspectors rarely showed up.
Hundreds of vendors sell inexpensive foodstuffs to low income groups. A majority of these kiosks openly sell substandard foodstuffs and defy hygiene standards but their businesses continue to thrive as they cater to a large number of people in the city who live alone, working or studying, and whose only affordable option for food are such kiosks.
A doctor at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Dr Farrukh Kamal, said that such violations of food bylaws can cause various dangerous diseases including cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery, and many other infections of the stomach, intestines and liver. “Lack of proper monitoring of food items in the federal capital is resulting in citizens suffering from various kinds of digestive problems including food poising, stomach ulcers and hepatitis”, he said.
Food bylaws in tatters
