LAHORE: Lahore Restaurants’ Owners have challenged the Punjab Food Authority teams to sit with them and prove their allegations logically before the media rather than showing gloomy picture of Pakistani food by inspecting the eateries and defaming them on social media.

They also say if they couldn’t prove their stance, they will leave the food business.

“Lahore is nationally and internationally famous because of its natural beauty, culture, heritage and traditions etc. And the Lahore’s food is one of the major components liked by the public at large and tourists. But for the last few months, the city’s food image is being presented as most vulnerable to health because of hygiene issues by the PFA teams,” Lahore Restaurants’ Association Secretary General Ahmad Shafique told reporters at a news conference at Lahore Press Club on Tuesday.

Wants to hold discourse on hygiene with PFA; hotels staff hold protest

Flanked by the members and office-bearers of the association, Mr Shafique said he had been in London for many years and engaged in various food handling businesses there. But it never happened in London that the authorities sealed food outlets/restaurants during first inspection. As per rules, the authorities there first educate the owners and serve notices or impose fines for improving hygiene issues. And if the owner doesn’t bother, the authorities finally seal such premises.

“But here, the situation has been made intentionally different. During the first inspection, the officials, a majority of them are headed by Director Ms Ayesha Mumtaz, prefer sealing to serving notices under the law,” he deplored.

The association secretary said labour inspectors off and on visited industrial units but they never sealed any such premises because of labour laws violations, as they prefer to improve the things rather than sealing or making the workers jobless.

“But we are being treated as ‘most wanted criminals.’ The behaviour of the PFA staffers while visiting eateries must be monitored by the chief minister through his own teams. And if it happens, the real picture of raids, sealing and so-called hygiene issues will come out,” he said.

He termed the inspections illegal and unjustified by a majority of field safety officers and assistant food safety officers whose job contract had expired for the last six months or so. “The PFA administration is yet to extend their contract,” he claimed.

He said since the association represented as many as 400 tax-paying restaurants, it wanted to sit with PFA and prepare a detailed inspection report of all member eateries.

He said the association members were not taken on board in key decisions relating to food handling and hygiene issues despite the fact they all were food experts.

He demanded of the chief minister to constitute a high-level inquiry commission to probe the ongoing PFA drive.

“If our demands were not fulfilled, we would have no option except to close our restaurants and launch a massive protest across the province along with our workers,” he said.

To a question, Mr Shafique said the association members were already making their things in order on the issue of cleanliness and hygiene. He claimed that though the LRA had been active for the last one year or so, it was registered with the industrial department a couple of days ago.

Later, a number of association members, restaurant workers and staff staged a protest outside the press club.

Carrying placards and banners, they chanted slogans against the PFA for ‘victimising’ them.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2015

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