LAHORE: A long-running ‘territorial dispute’ between a federal organisation and a provincial agency over who will regulate food business in Punjab continues to confuse local and foreign food firms, affect their sales and “tarnish” their brand image.

The roots of the dispute lie in devolution of the subject of food to the provinces under the 18th amendment to the Constitution that transferred several federal functions to the federating units and abolished concurrent legislative list. The adoption of the amendment allowed Punjab to enact a Punjab Food Authority (PFA) Act that paved the way for the formation of a provincial entity with vast powers to frame food safety standards, regulate food business, and punish violators of its food safety regime.

As the PFA began enforcing its food quality standards in the province, it found itself in the midst of a controversy with the Pakistan Standards Quality and Control Authority (PSQCA) claiming that the provincial body was encroaching on its jurisdiction. And that wasn’t all. Several large, powerful food companies, especially foreign firms, took up the issue of stringent provincial food safety standards with both the federal and provincial governments, pleading for uniform laws and regulations across the country.

The food companies insist they cannot comply with multiple regimes of food standards and laws in different parts of the country, and implementation of federal and provincial regulations simultaneously is creating problems for their business. Since a number of food companies have their (manufacturing) facilities in more than one province and others market their products made in one province across the country, the industry wants uniform laws and regulations governing their business everywhere.

“How do you expect us to deal with different standards in different provinces?,” wondered a senior executive of a company marketing carbonated beverages on condition of anonymity. “If a quality standard is good for one province, why isn’t it acceptable to others?”

PSQCA argues it has sole jurisdiction over the “processed, packed food that can be traced through the supply chains” and provinces had nothing to do with registration, licencing, marketing etc of processed, packed food. “Under the PSQCA Act 1996 only we have the power to frame quality standards for food items, enforce them and regulate the industry. Pakistan standards apply to all processed and packed food products across all the provinces with provincial governments having authority to enforce quality standards on loose or unpacked food,” Asghar Ali, a PSQCA official, told Dawn.

He said both the federal ministries of law and justice and of science and technology had ruled in favour of PSQCA and instructed the provinces to keep from interfering with its work and jurisdiction for ensuring uniform standards and quality control mechanism for processed and packed foods throughout Pakistan.

The PFA doesn’t agree. “The 18th amendment devolved the subject of food in its entirety to the provinces. And the law passed by the provincial assembly subsequently gives the PFA powers to frame laws, rules and regulations to ensure provision of safe food to the people in the province. It’s not just Punjab, other provinces are also setting up their food authorities because PSQCA lacks institutional presence and capacity to ensure food safety,” Noorul Amin Mengal, the PFA director general, told this correspondent.

He pointed out that PSQCA neither had the power to lay down food standards after the devolution of food to the provincial level nor did it have the capacity to enforce safety regulations. It should focus just on international trade (import/export) of food, he added. “The Pakistan standards developed by PSQCA are too lenient and favour manufacturers over consumers.”

Mengal claimed that the food safety standards and regulations developed by the PFA were an improved version of the PSQCA standards and covered more food items and the allied packaging and labelling industry. “Our food quality regime is different from the one laid out by PSQCA in that we have also made labelling and food fortification a part of it,” the PFA chief said.

He contended that the industry was happy with the actions being implemented by the PFA because it was creating space in the market for manufacturers who followed the best practices and were not involved in misleading or deceptive marketing.

The conflict between the federal and provincial organisations intensified after the PFA started an aggressive campaign against misleading and deceptive marketing of food products by their manufacturers and insisted that every company provided complete information about their products in Urdu for the sake of transparency. It took bold actions against large local and foreign companies selling non-dairy items like tea whitener and non-dairy drinks as dairy products, forced producers to fortify their products, penalised producers of substandard packed milk and bottled water, destroyed crops irrigated by drain water, compelled corporations to adopt best international manufacturing business practices and so on.

Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Bruno Olierhoek was all praise for the PFA efforts to safeguard the interests of public. But he pointed out that the provincial regime of food quality standards was different from the PSQCA regime, which ultimately caused confusion as the manufacturers could not follow two different sets of standards for their products sold nationwide. “Foreign investors have invested in Pakistan and not in Punjab or Sindh... Small changes in labelling can be big issue for companies. Local rules should be in line with international rules to avoid any conflict.”

He suggested the formation of a national council for determining right level of regulations and harmonising the standards for implementation at the national level, stressing focus on undocumented part of the food business. “It will boost industry, create jobs and increase tax revenues.”

Mengal concurs. “(Food safety) laws and regulations should not confuse the industry. We should have a national commission or national council with provincial representatives on it to frame national standards applicable in every province. Enforcement of those standards should be with the provinces… PSQCA’s involvement in formulation of rules or their enforcement is not acceptable to us in any capacity because it is corrupt, inept and inefficient organisation.”

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2018