PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority sealed the MPA Hostel’s canteen after a detailed inspection of its kitchen here on Thursday.

In a statement here, the authority’s director general, Riaz Khan Mahsud, said that the food authority had the mandate to check every food outlet in the province and take necessary action in public interest. He said that provision of safe and healthy food would be ensured in all areas of the province.

Sharing details, the authority’s director operations Khalid Khan Khattak said that the canteen was checked for personal and food hygiene. He revealed that both personal hygiene and food safety situation were not satisfactory. He added that China salt was also recovered from the premises which had already been banned by the Supreme Court in 2018. He said that a team of relevant officials would continue to visit the canteen in order to ensure implementation of food safety standards.

Another official, Dr Murad Ali, said that the canteen was sealed for three days and instructions for improvement had been given to the owner.

He said that the relevant quarters had already been informed about the poor sanitation and hygiene of the canteen.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2019