KARACHI, Oct 31: The city government’s health department officials, on Wednesday, seized a huge quantity of adulterated spices from a factory in Ayub Goth, situated in Gadap Town’s Union Council No 4.

The health department team, headed by a district officer, during a raid on the factory, took into custody 82 sacks of different adulterated spices, sawdust and chemicals which, according to the Chief Food Inspector, Mubarak Shah, were meant to give the taste and flavour of turmeric, red chilies, coriander and other spices.

A city government spokesman said that the owner of the factory managed to escape during the raid. However, they seized 82 sacks of adulterated spices and sealed the factory.

A case against the factory owner for preparing and selling adulterated spices has been lodged with the concerned police station.

Describing the seized spices as ‘highly injurious to health’, the city government’s executive district officer, Dr Alinawaz Shaikh, told a group of newsmen that due to consumption of such spices, one can fall prey to ulcers, stomach ailments and other dangerous diseases.

He said that samples of all the confiscated spices have been sent to the city government’s food laboratory for chemical analysis and upon receiving the report, the factory owner and others responsible for the preparation of such hazardous and substandard spices would be prosecuted in the court of law.

Meanwhile, acting Nazim of the city, Tariq Hassan, lauded the efforts of the health department team in confiscating adulterated spices and hoped that such drives will become a permanent feature of the government, so that those playing with the lives of citizens do not go unpunished.