MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) food authority has imposed a blanket ban on import of slaughtered meat, milk, non-certified edible oil and ghee and other substandard items from outside the territory.

“There has been no mechanism to verify that whether the meat brought for sale in the AJK territory is halal or haram and where has it been slaughtered and frozen before transportation,” said the food authority in a statement, released via PID, on Thursday.

“The sale of such kinds of meat runs counter to the established principles of hygiene and is therefore strictly prohibited,” it added.

Similarly, the authority said, import of poultry meat had also been banned for the same reasons.

Instead, it added, only living cattle, sheep, goats and poultry would be allowed inside the state to be sold either alive or after proper slaughter at the designated places.

Of milk being brought for sale from outside, the authority said that since fresh milk had a specific time of expiry it would become injurious to human health due to non-observance of safety measures and rules of transportation (chiller), etc., as per scientific principles.

The fitness for human consumption of such milk became doubtful also because of the unavailability of satisfactory testing and certification system in the state and therefore its transportation could not be allowed, it added.

For long, the AJK towns had been an easy sale point of adulterated as well as synthetic milk transported mostly by the outsiders in tankers in connivance with local unscrupulous elements with impunity.

The unethical and unlawful practice had suffered a blow after the civil society activists launched a persistent campaign against it, with enormous legal and moral backing from the region’s Supreme Court.

On the directions of the top court, several sale points of adulterated and synthetic milk were sealed and fined by the concerned authorities.

However, residents believe that absence of a harsh punishment regime is providing loopholes to guileful persons to carry on the activity at a limited scale.

Regarding the sale of other allegedly substandard food items, the food authority said in its statement that the companies which wanted to sell their products in AJK, particularly edible oil, ghee and snack products etc. should appoint or designate an authorized dealer/agency/representative in the respective district headquarters which must also be registered with authority for the purpose of authenticity and verification.

However, the food authority statement was devoid of the punitive measures for the persons flouting its directions.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2024