Zubair Qureshi
Consumer Rights group TheNetwork for Consumer Protection has appealed to the federal government and the Islamabad Capital Territory management for the early enactment of the rules of business of recently passed ICT Food Safety Act, saying this will help the residents of Islamabad to be protected under the upgraded safer food regulations at par with provinces.
The ICT food Safety Act was passed by the joint session of the Parliament last month on November 17 after a parliamentary review that took over two years to complete.
The rules of business will operationalize the much-needed law.
Since the constitutional devolution in 2010, all provinces have enacted laws to establish food authorities. Now the Parliament has also replaced the 1960 pure food law with new legislation and extended safer food protection to consumers of the Islamabad metropolitan area.
Expressing optimism, GAIN’s Senior Policy Advisor, Mr. Faiz Rasool, said that this piece of legislation is a great initiative and would be a step ahead towards the government of Pakistan efforts on “Transforming Pakistan’s Food Systems”.
Nadeem Iqbal, CEO of TheNetwork, said, “The recent passage of Islamabad Food safety Act by the joint session of the parliament has brought forth new opportunities for the federal government to build required food safety infrastructure and institutions in the capital city so that people can consume safer food.”
Establishing the Islamabad Food Safety Authority under the Food Safety Act 2021 needs to be strongly focusing on the development of rules of the business and budget allocation. This would also help to improve the health of the people by managing food-borne diseases and increasing food trade.
