LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has launched the Phase-II of the School Nutrition Programmme.

In this connection, a consultative meeting between the PFA and a UNICEF team was held on Tuesday, said a PFA handout.

PFA Planning & Coordination Director Muneer Hussain Chopra gave a detailed briefing about th programme during the meeting. Unicef reaffirmed its commitment to work jointly with PFA on the programme as well as other initiatives. Both sides agreed to accelerate training and awareness campaigns aimed at improving children’s nutrition with discussions covering balanced diets, food groups and essential micronutrients.

PFA Director General Muhammad Asim Javaid said that a strategy to providing quality food in schools and communities on a large scale had been finalised. He said that 25pc of children suffer from zinc deficiency and 30pc from iron deficiency, which leads to various diseases. He said that children’s nutrition problems were complex and required a complete, organised plan. Educating today’s students about nutrition was crucial, he added.

PFA discards 53,675 litres of adulterated milk, 28,389kg of substandard meat

Unicef representatives assured PFA of full collaboration across Punjab to address nutrition-related issues.

Meanwhile, PFA enforcement teams checked a total of 7.72 million litres of milk and over 602,000kg of meat in the past 10 days during food safety inspections.

PFA teams inspected 15,634 milk carrier vehicles and dairy shops and 3,337 meat shops during the operations and disposed off 53,675 litres of adulterated milk and 28,389kg of meat.

PFA DG said that PFA lodged 32 FIRs over milk adulteration and 30 FIRs over the sale of substandard meat and imposed more than Rs15.3 million fines on 1,627 milk and meat shops. He said milk was tested on-site using modern lactoscan machines and discarded immediately upon confirmation of adulteration.

Compared to previous years, there had been a record increase in operations, fines and FIRs, while the quantity of milk discarded had decreased significantly, he said and added that it was a clear indicator of PFA’s effective enforcement.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2025