Hotel owners in the city are annoyed over Punjab Food Authority (PFA) for not issuing new SOPs.
The PFA started its action against the owners of eateries and restaurants through its food safety officers and assistant food safety officers while SOPs in this regards were not acceptable to the owners of restaurants.
The hotel owners said that the PFA which is continuing its action against the local and international restaurants had promised to issue new SOPs but now they complain that the FPA is not ready to sit with them.
The PFA Act 2011 declares the authority as a provincial level body and its scope of work is not limited to the jurisdiction of the City District Government Lahore alone. “This Act may be cited as the Punjab Food Authority Act-2011. And it extends to the whole of Punjab,” the Act’s Chapter-1 (preliminary portion) reads.
Similarly, the Chapter-II of the Act empowers a food safety officer to enter any premises, where he/she believes any food is prepared, preserved, packaged, stored, conveyed, distributed or sold, and take action either in the form of seizing unhygienic food, sealing the premises, serving improvement notice or imposing fine on the owner of such eateries.
The owners of restaurants said they are being checked without the promulgation of new SOPs. But the PFA is also issuing licenses to those desirous of doing business of food in the city with old SOPs.
They said the PFA has so far not given green signal to them despite repeated requests about the changes in the already SOPs with them.
Restaurants Association President Muhammad Kamran said restaurants are now under the fear of crackdown in the city and they have incurred heavy losses in their business of food.
PFA junior Deputy Director Saqib Ali said that his boss (Atazyesha Mum ) would give green signal in this connection.