In order to improve the standard of food being sold in Balochistan, the provincial government has decided to functionalize food authority. We have been highlighting the pressing problems of the people off and on suggesting to Governments of the day to take specific measures to curtail adulteration in food and the unhampered sale of substandard,

fake and spurious medicine in all parts of Balochistan with its headquarters in Quetta where thousands of people are involved in this illicit business earning more and more. In a welcome step, CM Balochistan Jam Kamal directed the food department to functionalize Balochistan Food Authority.

Chief Minister Balochistan presided a session reviewing the performance of Provincial Food Department. During the session Food Secretary Ghulam Ali Baloch thoroughly briefed the Chief Minister regarding food department’s affairs availability of wheat in official warehouses and establish wheat management system. Provincial Food Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Kethran was present in the meeting.  The session unanimously directed the food authorities to establish Wheat Management System and appointment of Food Managers. The fake and sub-standard food edible are supplied to the buyers without any check or fear of accountability.

Thousands of products on display at the shops and other outlets are normally fake, sub-standard and unfit for human consumption are sold with complete impunity. Besides medicine, normal food products are found adulterated or sub-standard on sale in the market. The business is not confined to Quetta city only, but such outlets are found in all parts of Balochistan, particularly in the major human settlements and big cities of Balochistan. Most of the products are purchased from vendors with a guarantee of more than 60 per cent profit. Those products had nothing to do with the factory outlets from any part of Pakistan. It is the monopoly of the vendors, all unknown and dubious characters.

The most favorite item is cooking oil or ghee which are reportedly produced in local factories established at home sarcastically known as ‘cottage industry’ in suburban Quetta localities. Even prestigious hotels were found providing stale and sub-standard food to their customers in Quetta and most of old people complained against the quality of food served in those big and prestigious hotels.

The local administration should come into action and raid the hotels and all eating houses and ensure that fresh and healthy food is ensured to all customers without any discrimination.  The Provincial Government should verify each edible product that they are fit for human consumption and thus allowed for sale. No sub-standard, injurious to health edible products should be sold in the open market and it should be made punishable offence.

The Shopkeepers should be made solely responsible for selling verified and certified eatable items and he should be held responsible for selling any substandard products or those injurious to health. Balochistan government should make the local administration responsible in all parts of Balochistan that shops are selling genuine, standard products and they are buying the products from the authorized dealers only and not from the thugs and cheats with a purpose to earn more profit. In the same spirit, the Chief Minister Jam Kamal order to functionalize the Food Authority in the Province to ensure that the broad masses should get unadulterated food and eatables from the open and lawless markets in Balochistan.

No laws govern the markets in this lawless society where the traders got license for loot and plunder. However, we are in favor of establishing a powerful food authority in Balochistan to check on the spot, there is no dearth of resources or finest human material to run the government eliminating adulteration in food and eatables and the spurious drug sale in whole of Balochistan.

We suggest the provincial government to extend the scope of Balochistan food authority to all the districts of the province, Balochistan government should establish a credible lab or use from the existing ones to make the Food Authority functional instantly or without any delay.