LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on Wednesday started a crackdown on the sale of adulterated honey after a deadline given to processors to follow food standard operating procedures expired.

Under the PFA Act 2011, the authority had asked processors to adopt SOPs by Nov 9.

The PFA teams checked 17 honey processing companies in different cities of Punjab. Four of them were fined heavily while 13 were issued warning notices. The fine was imposed for using blue chemical drums, poor sanitation and use of non-standard packing material.

In Lahore, the crackdown was carried out under the supervision of PFA Director General Noorul Amin Mengal.

Mengal said a known company’s honey processing unit in Kot Lakhpat was fined Rs500,000 over presence of insects in the packing area.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2017