| Abstract: |
Food companies, especially those with ice factories, must now obtain separate licenses to run milk chiller units if they wish to freeze milk in their factories. In a statement on the PFA website, PFA Director General Captain (R) Muhammad Usman said: “[Ice] factories [are not allowed to] store milk in ice blocks in the name of ice factory business [without a license].“[It is also] compulsory to install chillers for storing milk. PFA [will serve an] emergency prohibition order in [violation cases], and if the milk is found to be adulterated, [the] premises will be sealed.This move comes on the heels of PFA’s discovery and disposal of some 4,915 litres of contaminated milk across the nation earlier in the month. Usman said that PFA had checked some 188,961 litres milk found in 1,544 milk vehicles during the ‘crackdown’ conducted at the entry and exit points of each district.“PFA disposed of milk found [to be contaminated with] harmful chemicals, powder, urea and polluted water in it,” he added.“Thousands of litres [of] adulterated milk [were] being carried on dozens of vehicles in cities, from different dairy farmhouses and factories located at far-flung areas.”Usman sees pasteurisation as the ‘only solution’ to deal with milk adulteration and loose milk sales, hence is placing a good deal of focus on bringing a Pasteurisation Law into force. |
