PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority, in a special market survey, seized a huge consignment of counterfeit powdered milk of a multinational brand in Peepal Mandi here on Saturday.

According to a statement, a team of the food authority comprising assistant director Aneela Mahboob and food safety officers Ahmad Ali Shah and Wasif Shah, on a tip-off, was tasked with collecting information about the suppliers and inquiring the matter from wholesale dealers about sale of fake powdered milk.

Director technical Dr Syed Abdul Sattar Shah warned the public generally and mothers specially to avoid feeding their infants with the product at the moment. “It’s a sign of danger as no such private laboratory exists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to prepare such product and it might contain chemicals that could directly strike infant’s kidneys. This product should immediately be recalled and necessary steps be taken to intercept onward supply,” the official maintained.

Talking about counterfeit product found in market, investigation officer Aneela Mahboob said common people could not distinguish between the original and fake product.

She said more than 1,500 packs of the product had been seized, adding the market had been supplied in bulk with the product and it was a tougher task to recall the product from every shop.

The official said an awareness campaign had been launched on social media to inform public in order to stop using this product till clearance of counterfeit stalk.

A spokesman Attaullah Khan told Dawn that efforts were underway to arrest the people involved in supply of fake milk power to the market. Meanwhile, the authority’s director general Riaz Khan Mehsud expressed his concern over the existence of fake powdered milk and ordered a campaign to seize the product to save lives.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2019