KARACHI: In its ongoing efforts to ensure safety and quality of food and water throughout the province, the Sindh Food Authority (SFA) conducted two operations in Thatta and Karachi. These actions resulted in the seizure of 12,000 litres of unsafe cooking oil in Thatta and the sealing of 11 substandard reverse osmosis (RO) plants in Karachi.

In Thatta, the SFA team, supervised by Food Safety Officer Natasha alias Marium, raided a distribution unit where it found over 12,000 litres of substandard and unsafe cooking oil. The oil was being prepared for sale under local brand names in the market, posing a serious health risk to the public. The Sindh Food Authority confiscated the entire stock to prevent it from reaching consumers. The distribution unit was subsequently fined Rs500,000.

In Karachi, SFA inspected RO plants at various locations in the South and East districts and found that several of them were were not adhering to the WHO standards. Serious violations were identified at 11 RO plants, including excessive microbial contamination, rusted machinery, outdated filters, and poor sanitation of water storage tanks. Accordingly, all the 11 plants were sealed.

SFA inspected a total of 463 food business units and RO plants across the province. Among these, 233 units were found to be closed or relocated from their registered addresses.

Published in Dawn, October 22th, 2024