The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on Wednesday claimed to have recovered several kilogrammes of pork (pig meat) being supplied to Lahore and different parts of the province.
In a raid carried out near the Lahore Railway Station, the authority also arrested a suspect transporting the banned meat from Rawalpindi. The meat was found inside large drums loaded on a train.
“It is being supplied to Lahore and then it is further sent to chains and restaurants where edible food is prepared,” Ayesha Mumtaz, DG Operations of the Punjab Food Authority, told journalists.
The suspect said he was taking the meat to a factory in Sheikhupura where he believed they used it to produce some kind of chemical.
But Mumtaz claimed the suspect was a member of a gang involved in supplying pork meat to different restaurants and food chains of Lahore and surrounding areas for consumption. The food authority official said that the supply of the banned meat was being carried out illegally for a long time on trains.
Sale, purchase and consumption of pork is banned in Pakistan and prohibited in Islam as well.
“The Punjab chief minister has ordered the authority to check the supply of carcass meat strictly after the previous instances of confiscation of donkey and horse meat. The supply has been seized and samples are being sent to laboratory for a test to determine whether it is actually pork or some other form of substandard meat,” said the PFA DG.
“We will carry out proper DNA testing of this meat and will take legal action against the suspect and his accomplices. We believe that this is an elaborate mafia, a chain and a vicious circle,” she said.
The person carrying the supply was arrested and handed over to police for further investigation in order to nab the group involved in this heinous crime.
The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has been going around Lahore fining, warning and sealing any establishment dealing with food that are found in ‘unsatisfactory’ (unhygienic) conditions – from high-end, expensive restaurants to low-end, small food businesses.
The authority claims it is doing this to create awareness not only about the food people were being served, but also about hygiene, sanitation and cleanliness at restaurants, food factories and cafes.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has also taken serious notice of the confiscation of pork meat and directed that no leniency should be shown to the culprits.
KFC FINED:
The raids against food outlets are in full swing these days as Punjab Food Authority (PFA) sealed canteen of Kinnaird College and imposed heavy fine on cafeteria of Punjab College due to poor hygienic conditions.
An outlet of KFC at jail road was found dirty and with poor drainage system by a team of PFA. The inspection team imposed heavy fine and warned the eatery to mend its ways.