LAHORE, Dec 23: Wine samples seized for quality checking from the provincial metropolis for the first time since independence have been ageing at the Jinnah Hall Food Laboratory for the past five years and four months due to the refusal of the analysts to conduct the tests.

Former incharge of the Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore Food Laboratory Pir Muhammad Ari had accepted for analysis the 10 wine samples seized by a food inspector from two five star hotels in the city on Aug 30 and 31, 1995, under a directive of then Punjab local government minister Syed Nazim Husain Shah who was of the view that the purity of liquors consumed by public should also be ensured like other drinks.

The food laboratory incharge did not have the courage to refuse to analyze the wine samples taken under a directive of the sitting local government minister at that time but he did not give the analysis results within the usual one month period after the receipt of the samples. He informed the MCL administration that he did not have the facility to analyze the samples as the same had never been tested at the laboratory. The administration responded by showing its willingness for the acquisition of the necessary paraphernalia for conducting the required tests.

Incidentally the minister was removed from office following the dismissal of the PPP government by the then president Sardar Farooq Leghari before the acquisition of the required equipment giving the MCL food laboratory incharge an opportunity to raise objections against the wine analysis. He started by submitting that the enforcement of the liquor standards fell under the purview of the excise department which collected the excise duty on the same. He was informed that the civic body could check the purity of the alcoholic wines as these were not only consumed like beverages but were also mentioned in the Pure Food Act and licences for the sale of the same were issued by the civic authorities.

Having failed to convince the quarters concerned that wine quality and purity checking did not fall under the purview of the civic authorities under the Pure Food Act, the former MCL food laboratory incharge started a correspondence with the government public analyst and the chemical examiner seeking their opinion and assistance on the subject. He has retired without sorting out the matter and his follower is still waiting for the response of the chemical examiner on the subject, who being his appellate authority would not like to analyze the samples in his place as it would deprive the wine manufacturer and dealer of the appeal right in case the samples are not found in conformity with the pure food standards.

The interesting part of the story is that while the present municipal food analysts refuse to consider wines out of the purview of the provisions of the food law, the British rulers had established the first food laboratory in this part of the sub-continent at Rawalpindi for checking the quality of the wines manufactured by the brewery company there.