Punjab mulls banning unpacked food, beverages

[Dawood Ibrahim]

Impossible to implement & unfeasible. More poverty to follow.
Pros:
• Healthy citizens
• Growth of Milk Packaging companies.
• less traffic jams on Roads.

Cons:
• more poverty if the milkmen doesn't get to sell their Milk to companies or if the companies decides to set up their own Milk Farms.
• How do we know that packed milk will not be harmful considering the recent report. http://www.dawn.com/news/1311792
• More monopoly of companies & more higher rates.

Well said how i wish what you wrote will come true inshallah

Yes, there are other options like selling "Ghade ka gosht".

My bro @Doordi said to me yesterday that try to be rationale sometimes.

Alhumdulillah

 

[SBD-3]

Governor Punjab approves the drug act amendments requiring
1-Pharmacies to only sell drugs approved by DRA Pakistan
2-Hire professional pharmacists and temperature control equipment meet the storage requirements
3-Placing substandard drugs on equal footings as that of fake drugs.

Punjab's making a visible push to enforce some standards.

 

[Bouncer]

LAHORE: In a massive, phase-wise exercise to implement global food safety standards, food authorities are planning to introduce regulations against the sale of loose edible items across Punjab.

In its board meeting today (Monday), the Punjab Food Authority is likely to mull over several proposals, including a ban on the sale of unpacked food that is sold routinely all over the country. The decision has been taken to ensure quality and to stop the sale of substandard food items.

According to insiders, a draft of the regulations to be tabled before the PFA board has been finalised after three months of deliberations with a scientist panel and is said to be an amalgamation of three separate food standards recognised around the world.

The board meeting will be presented with a hefty agenda of around 20 items related to regulations, expansion of PFA and financial approvals. The government has also selected a new chairman for the food watchdog that will be announced soon, the sources said.

Packed products

Under the proposed regulations, the PFA will give five years to all milk sellers to end the sale of loose milk as well as converting to selling pasteurised milk. After five years, the authority will ban the sale of unpacked milk via a notification and will only allow the sale of pasteurised milk.

“We are aware of the hardships involved in the transition,” PFA Director-General Noorul Amin Mengal said while talking with The Express Tribune. “Milk sellers with a few animals can join hands with other small vendors to form an alliance for dividing the cost of pasteurisation.”

He added the food authority was also bringing in a ‘pasteurisation law’ to regulate the pasteurised milk sector.

The PFA plans to give 18 months to the wholesalers of spices and tea for stopping the sale of loose products. The move has, however, evoked a strong opposition from the dealers, who have termed the decision a bid to promote the ‘big fish’ and flush out small businessmen.

Cooking oils

The oil and ghee industry will be given three years to reduce trans fats content in products from up to 15% to just 5%. While trans fats can make food taste good and make it last longer in stores, they can cause heart disease and lead to metabolic problems.

A PFA officer told The Express Tribune the oil and ghee sector was previously maintaining trans fats content up to 50% that was potentially lethal for heart patients.

Since the international standard for trans fat in oil is only 5%, she said the PFA had already notified the acceptable level of trans fat to 10% to 15%. In three years, the industry will be forced to bring it down to 5%, according to the proposed regulation.

The authority has also decided to ban the sale of the four types of cooking oils that were earlier allowed to be sold unpacked while the sale of the rest was barred.

The new regulations will also set mandatory standards for fortification of oil and wheat, keeping in view the height and growth disorders of the local population. Levels of vitamin A and D have been specified for oil whereas the levels of frolic acid, iron, zinc and vitamin B12 have been specified for wheat.

Egg and fish

For the first time, eggs and fish have also been put on the regulations table, which also includes new rules on types of bottled water. Eggs and water will be forced to be kept in chilled storage at all sale points and cannot be kept in the sun, PFA officials said

The officials believed it was important to set standards at the sale point or food safety could not be ensured. Several other aspects for eggs and fish have been included in the regulations to keep a check on this highly unregulated market.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2017.

Excellent step for a number of reasons.

• Standardization in this industry will ultimately benefit the consumer. Currently we have two or three major players acting as a cartel. They control prices and sell sub-standard products. Recent study by SC confirmed this.
• Current open sellers are playing with consumer's health by mixing contaminated water and in some cases harmful chemicals. Their prices are at the same level or higher than packaged milk. End user suffers because of quality and price. Despite being the fifth largest milk producing country, Pakistanis are paying almost same per liter price as in developed countries.
• Revenue for Government. Open sellers are not contributing any taxes to the government. Which like many other sectors is very damaging to the average middle class tax payer who carries the burden of everyone else.
• Formal jobs. People working in this unregulated industry are currently out of labor laws and have no protection as such. Formalizing this sector will ensure better job protection for them.

Governor Punjab approves the drug act amendments requiring
1-Pharmacies to only sell drugs approved by DRA Pakistan
2-Hire professional pharmacists and temperature control equipment meet the storage requirements
3-Placing substandard drugs on equal footings as that of fake drugs.

Punjab's making a visible push to enforce some standards.

And drug manufacturers / pharmacists do not like this. Any law/regulation that aims to bring benefits to consumer at the cost of these vultures is declared maashi qatal by these millionaire vultures.

 

[SBD-3]

Excellent step for a number of reasons.

• Standardization in this industry will ultimately benefit the consumer. Currently we have two or three major players acting as a cartel. They control prices and sell sub-standard products. Recent study by SC confirmed this.
• Current open sellers are playing with consumer's health by mixing contaminated water and in some cases harmful chemicals. Their prices are at the same level or higher than packaged milk. End user suffers because of quality and price. Despite being the fifth largest milk producing country, Pakistanis are paying almost same per liter price as in developed countries.
• Revenue for Government. Open sellers are not contributing any taxes to the government. Which like many other sectors is very damaging to the average middle class tax payer who carries the burden of everyone else.
• Formal jobs. People working in this unregulated industry are currently out of labor laws and have no protection as such. Formalizing this sector will ensure better job protection for them.

And drug manufacturers / pharmacists do not like this. Any law/regulation that aims to bring benefits to consumer at the cost of these vultures is declared maashi qatal by these millionaire vultures.

It is a tough decision, but such decisions indicate that PML-N see's no political implications coming out of such decisions. Government wouldn't risk such decision in 2014 dharna. The benefits of consistency. And if such steps succeed (lets hope for it), it should create more political goodwill for them in the long-run.

 

[Jzaib]

Surprisingly Anhar will benefit alot , its a coincident that since Shahbaz is in dairy and pottery business. this law will benifit him the most.

 

[Kompromat]

So let me guess, the Sharifs are going into packing business.

 

[SBD-3]

So let me guess, the Sharifs are going into packing business.

They are already in packaged milk and our Fauji bhais have recently entered in it as well. Nurpur.

 

[Arsalan]

So let me guess, the Sharifs are going into packing business.

They already are janab!!

Expanding may be!!

 

[MULUBJA]

LAHORE: In a massive, phase-wise exercise to implement global food safety standards, food authorities are planning to introduce regulations against the sale of loose edible items across Punjab.

In its board meeting today (Monday), the Punjab Food Authority is likely to mull over several proposals, including a ban on the sale of unpacked food that is sold routinely all over the country. The decision has been taken to ensure quality and to stop the sale of substandard food items.

According to insiders, a draft of the regulations to be tabled before the PFA board has been finalised after three months of deliberations with a scientist panel and is said to be an amalgamation of three separate food standards recognised around the world.

The board meeting will be presented with a hefty agenda of around 20 items related to regulations, expansion of PFA and financial approvals. The government has also selected a new chairman for the food watchdog that will be announced soon, the sources said.

Packed products

Under the proposed regulations, the PFA will give five years to all milk sellers to end the sale of loose milk as well as converting to selling pasteurised milk. After five years, the authority will ban the sale of unpacked milk via a notification and will only allow the sale of pasteurised milk.

“We are aware of the hardships involved in the transition,” PFA Director-General Noorul Amin Mengal said while talking with The Express Tribune. “Milk sellers with a few animals can join hands with other small vendors to form an alliance for dividing the cost of pasteurisation.”

He added the food authority was also bringing in a ‘pasteurisation law’ to regulate the pasteurised milk sector.

The PFA plans to give 18 months to the wholesalers of spices and tea for stopping the sale of loose products. The move has, however, evoked a strong opposition from the dealers, who have termed the decision a bid to promote the ‘big fish’ and flush out small businessmen.

Cooking oils

The oil and ghee industry will be given three years to reduce trans fats content in products from up to 15% to just 5%. While trans fats can make food taste good and make it last longer in stores, they can cause heart disease and lead to metabolic problems.

A PFA officer told The Express Tribune the oil and ghee sector was previously maintaining trans fats content up to 50% that was potentially lethal for heart patients.

Since the international standard for trans fat in oil is only 5%, she said the PFA had already notified the acceptable level of trans fat to 10% to 15%. In three years, the industry will be forced to bring it down to 5%, according to the proposed regulation.

The authority has also decided to ban the sale of the four types of cooking oils that were earlier allowed to be sold unpacked while the sale of the rest was barred.

The new regulations will also set mandatory standards for fortification of oil and wheat, keeping in view the height and growth disorders of the local population. Levels of vitamin A and D have been specified for oil whereas the levels of frolic acid, iron, zinc and vitamin B12 have been specified for wheat.

Egg and fish

For the first time, eggs and fish have also been put on the regulations table, which also includes new rules on types of bottled water. Eggs and water will be forced to be kept in chilled storage at all sale points and cannot be kept in the sun, PFA officials said

The officials believed it was important to set standards at the sale point or food safety could not be ensured. Several other aspects for eggs and fish have been included in the regulations to keep a check on this highly unregulated market.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2017.

How can they be banned when there is dominant culture of street food?

 

[XenoEnsi-14]

Under the proposed regulations, the PFA will give five years to all milk sellers to end the sale of loose milk as well as converting to selling pasteurised milk.

Loose milk?

 

[notorious_eagle]

So let me guess, the Sharifs are going into packing business.

They already are in the packing business. They are also in the business of poultry, meat, farming, organic farming, steel, cement, construction, banking, trading, sugar mills, textile mills, flour mills, etc etc. They pretty much have a hand in any business that makes money. Also, they are very good at eliminating the competition. The owner of Halla Milk, an old man, 15 FIR's were filed against him by the Police when he refused to sell his stake to Hamza Shahbaz. The poor man died of a heart attack because of this.

Only in Pakistan where the rulers are allowed to operate their business along with the Government. In 2015 Shahbaz Sharif passed a motion, specifically to move his sugar mills to South Punjab which had to be stopped by the Supreme Court. But behold, despite the Supreme Court order, those mills are still running full speed ahead. Lanat Ho

 

[Hell hound]

Only in Pakistan where the rulers are allowed to operate their business along with the Government. In 2015 Shahbaz Sharif passed a motion, specifically to move his sugar mills to South Punjab which had to be stopped by the Supreme Court. But behold, despite the Supreme Court order, those mills are still running full speed ahead. Lanat Ho

and judging by amount of sugarcane being planted in rahim yar khan district area and rest of the southern punjab which was inherently a cotton producing area. we can kiss our textile exports and industry good bye.
sugarcane being a very thirsty and 12 month crop will damage the biodiversity of these lands in such a way that they won't be able to produce any thing other than sugar cane or maze in a few years. the exact same thing has already happened in the Faisalabad area .
its criminal behavior that you are destroying our land just so you can save few bucks in production cost. is those few bucks really worth destroying what remains of our textile industry

 

[ghameed]

Impossible to implement & unfeasible. More poverty to follow.
Pros:
• Healthy citizens
• Growth of Milk Packaging companies will result in more revenue collection for the GOP.
• less traffic jams on Roads.

Cons:
• more poverty, if the milkmen doesn't get to sell their Milk to companies or if the companies decides to set up their own Milk Farms for more profit gathering.
• How do we know that packed milk will not be harmful considering the recent report. http://www.dawn.com/news/1311792
• More monopoly of companies resulting in higher rates.

Kabhi kabhi dushman se seekhna buri baat nahi hai ...ever heard of cooperative societies ...India's cooperatives are one of the biggest success stories in its rural development and played a big role in India's white revolution. If India is self sufficient in milk , then these societies are the cause for it

Amul, Nandini, mother dairy ,Aavin , they are all exemplary examples of cooperative societies providing high quality milk products and generating massive rural employment in the meanwhile . They are all state owned , mind you