Food feature (lahore) Published in Sunday plus

Unchecked food outlets are serious threat to citizen’s health

“I have no option other than market food, the one prolong my illness” a private hostel student near Iqbal town said. He said many my friends are facing the same problem, as mostly we are exposed to diarrhea and stomach ache.  There is no check and balance from food inspectors what ever the hotel owners feed to consumers. When we question hotel management to hold some cleanness and provide some quality food they dare to challenge our options to have such quality food they are providing, and really they are right, we have no choice. 

Alternatively the prices of food stuff are also on peak.  Hotel industry in the world is a good business outlet but in Pakistan as people mostly used to feast with their family at home, it is facing profitable problems. Yasir Ali, owner of sabar hotel on multan road, said in gloomy tune, that “bhai sab puri ni paindi” (we earn nothing). Customer shouted on us about quality and then order to give lunch food worth twenty rupees. In this short imbursement what the hell quality customers want to buy.

 Consumers of market food are easy prey to diseases like Abdominal cramps, Diarrhea (may be bloody), Fever and chills, Headache, Nausea , vomiting and Weakness. Ministry of health appointed food inspectors to check food quality in their locality. When asked one official he said “I am agree some of our colleagues take bribe but short cash as bribe may give license to someone to play with innocent lives. So we try our best to assure standard food for citizens but with short numbering and thousand food points its impossible to achieve hundred percent.”

Illegal slaughterhouse and unregistered food point are root cause of detrimental food conditions. Owners of these profit channels may earn some pennies at the cost of people health but mark a question on our societal behavior. They are not only using locally-produced oil, but many of them are also consuming cooking oil and ghee made by unregistered companies.  

People who take market food must scrutinize the quality of food provided. Dr. Ghazanfar Abbas gastroenterologist, assistant Professor of medicine said that food poisoning occurs when food is prepared by someone who did not wash their hands properly. Any food prepared using unclean cooking utensils, cutting boards, or other tools, Dairy products or food containing mayonnaise (such as coleslaw or potato salad) that have been out of the refrigerator too long.

He further elaborate the causes as Frozen or refrigerated foods that are not stored at the proper temperature or are not reheated properly, Raw fruits or vegetables that have not been washed well and Undercooked meats or eggs also cause food poisoning. Polluted water also causes many disease of stomach, he said.

He also suggests some safety measures for hotel management to avoid such unhealthy circumstances that they must use clean dishes and utensils that have had any contact with raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs. Use a thermometer when cooking, cook beef to at least 160°F, poultry to at least 180°F, and fish to at least 140°F. Do not place cooked meat or fish back onto the same plate or container that held the raw meat, unless the container has been completely washed. Promptly refrigerate any food you will not be eating. Keep the refrigerator set to around 40°F and your freezer at or below 0°F. Only drink water that has been treated or chlorinated, he suggested.

Given that food intake is the fundamental precondition for survival; food safety issues embrace us all the time. Food safety simply means that what we eat, chew or drink is safe for human health. In order to ensure that people get safe food, multidimensional approaches have to be taken at all levels of a food chain e.g. production, storage, supply, distribution, and consumption, etc.

An employee of a sweetshop confided to this scribe that the most terrible factor in the preparation of the fried items was the mixing engine oils in the cooking oil. This makes the food crispy, he further confided.

The use of toxic chemical and dye as colouring agents is also rampant in the City.
A customer, Muhammad Ameed, said the already substandard cooking oil was reused for many times until it turns dark resembling crude oil. He said, besides the quality of the oil and ghee being used in the City, the shopkeepers do not clean their cooking utensils. An owner, Liaqat Ali, however said the fried items were very popular among the Lahorites. It’s a seasonal business with very small investment, he said.

Govt. of Pakistan legislates to ensure food safety for its people. The Pure Food Ordinance, 1960 consolidates and amends the law in relation to the preparation and the sale of foods. Its aim is to ensure purity of food being supplied to people in the market and, therefore, provides for preventing adulteration. The law prohibits any person to mix, colour, stain or powder any food, if the mixing involves violation of prescribed rules or is likely to make the food injurious for health.

Many other laws like Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan act, Pakistan Hotels and Restaurant Act, 1976 were present on paper surfaces but nobody here to implement these laws in real.  Usman Ali, a lawyer of Lahore high court argues that it is stated in law that any person (i.e. waiter, cook etc.) in any hotel, restaurant, sweetmeat shop or any other public eating place should be in possession of a health certificate from a health officer, which should mention that he/she is free from communicable diseases but we see no waiter go through this criteria for job.

National Institute of Health (NIH) and Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) have conducted laboratory tests of bottled water brands numerous times and found many brands unfit for human consumption but did not disclose names of those brands.

Most of the countries around the world have developed their own legal frameworks for ensuring food safety, notwithstanding the effectiveness of these frameworks. Pakistan does not have an integrated legal framework but has a set of laws, which deals with various aspects of food safety. However, like many other laws, these laws remain very poorly enforced.