30,000kg unhygienic gram flour seized

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority has seized more than 30,000kg of ‘unhealthy’ besan [Gram flour] from a factory in the Hayatabad Industrial Estate, said a statement issued on Tuesday.

According to KP FS&HFA Director General Suhail Khan, the factory was mixing ‘unhealthy’ broken rice along with other items in the production of besan, which he said was harmful to the public health.

Khan added the factory was supplying unhealthy besan to various districts of the province.

“The factory was preparing besan in complete violation of standard operating procedures. During the inspection, the hygiene arrangements were found to be very poor, and the factory was found to be involved in mislabeling,” he added.

Assistant Director Farman Ali and other food safety team members of food safety officers took part in the intelligence-based operation.

The director-general said that to ensure quality food in the province, food-related businesses were urged to follow the basic hygiene principles in food premises. Khan said that the authority would ensure food quality at any cost and action would be taken as per law against factory owners involved in manufacturing substandard gram flour.