MURREE: In response to directives by the Punjab government, the health, food and sanitation departments launched a drive against hotels, meat shops, bakers and other outlets serving unhygienic and substandard food items.

Town Municipal Officer (TMO) Inamur Raheem, along with Assistant Commissioner Tahir Farooq, Deputy District Health Officer Dr Azhar Abbasi, Sanitation and Food Inspector Shahid and others raided a number of food outlets on Mall Road, Card Road, Motor Agency and other areas.

The team inspected the kitchens at restaurants and those found to be unhygienic were fined thousands of rupees.

A well-known pizza outlet on Kuldanna Road was sealed and a case was registered against a hotel on Mall Road for having a dirty kitchen and using substandard ingredients.

Earlier, Provincial Food Minister Bilal Yaseen chaired a meeting in Murree attended by officials from all concerned departments and decided that kitchens at hotels, bakeries and food outlets would be checked every day.

There are over a thousand restaurants and hotels located within a two square kilometre area, in main Murree, frequented by tourists.

In the past, no regulatory body was working towards ensuring that healthy and hygienic food items were being sold to the thousands of tourists who visit the hill station in the summer.

Both residents of Murree and tourists appreciated the TMA’s efforts towards ensuring the sale of healthy food to tourists.

A number of tourists also called for the TMA to keep a check on the prices of food items being sold in Murree.

Punjab Food Authority Director Ayesha Mumtaz told Dawn the appreciation in the media and a positive response from the citizens towards the crackdown against unhygienic food outlets in the provincial capital, encouraged the Punjab government to extend the drive to other cities of the Punjab.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play