LAHORE: The Punjab Foods Authority (PFA) has launched a “Star Rating Programme” in accordance with international standards to motivate and support the restaurant industry and provide good quality and service to customers.

PFA Director General Rafaqat Ali Nissoana said this pilot project would help determine the standards of the hotels and restaurants in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi. He said the project would create a competitive environment among the food businesses for better services and each restaurant was marked with a star to show its ranking.

He said the programme would act as an evaluating/measuring tool to reward the food businesses. “Initially, a decision was made to cover 250 restaurants for giving star ratings in this pilot project,” he said.

He said mystery shoppers would be recruited and trained to evaluate the restaurants randomly and training of officials would be conducted before introducing a rating system. The DG said these anonymous people would visit restaurants as visitors to assess the services and quality and stars would be provided by an independent monitoring mechanism. He said a Mobile App by the name Star Rating would be launched for the public also and would be available for android and iOS Phone users.

He said it was a model which is used globally to motivate and reward restaurants and to identify the overall quality and services. This initiative would motivate the restaurant owners to improve quality and service as well as ensure food safety and quality standards, he said.

The PFA DG said certificates would be issued by the Star Rating Programme for six month on the basis of their hygiene, safety and quality of food.

“After the period of six months, the restaurant’s owner would again apply for the checking process,” he said. He said under the checking process of different food points and production units the quality of food, storage, kitchen area, hygiene, food handling, training and medical certificates would be monitored.

He said the programme would provide knowledge and awareness to the customers about restaurants besides helping them select a place based on star rating and set expectations.

“The PFA is bringing improvement through amendment to the provincial food authority law as per the international standards by following the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2022