ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) to ensure that only permissible, certified material sacks are used for packing food items, including wheat flour, and to launch a nationwide enforcement drive against non-compliant packaging within 30 days.

In a detailed judgment issued last week by Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, the court instructed the regulator to exercise its powers under Sections 8, 15 and 22 of the PSQCA Act 1996, to identify, seize, detain and initiate penal proceedings against the manufacture, storage, sale and transport of polypropylene woven sacks intended for food items that do not carry the mandatory Pakistan Standard (PS) Mark in conformity with PS: 3128.

The decision comes after the Pakistan Polypropylene Woven Sack Manufacturers Association filed a case, warning that billions of rupees worth of wheat flour is being wasted annually due to substandard sacks.

It further claimed that during the current year alone, approximately Rs112bn worth of wheat flour would be wasted due to substandard, porous woven bags and faulty packaging.

The authority has been directed to submit a comprehensive compliance report within 90 days, detailing actions taken, quantities seized, penalties imposed and the geographical scope of operations.

The IHC further ordered the Ministry of National Food Security to convene consultations within 30 days with provincial food authorities and relevvant federal regulators to frame and notify policy and administrative measures ensuring that wheat flour produced from government-released wheat is packed in PSQCA-certified sacks.

The food ministry and the PSQCA have been directed to convene a meeting with representatives of all provincial food authorities and submit a Joint Action Plan for coordinated and sustained enforcement, within 45 days.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2026