Recent actions of Punjab Food Authority have been a welcome addition. The good performance of PFA has rightfully been appreciated and PFA has become an example for the food authorise in other provinces also.

The official figures of Punjab Food Authority state that so far 5,500 eating places have been raided, out of which 250 have been sealed, and 2,500 served notices.

Pakistan has witnessed multiple actions by its bureaucracy on these issues in past, but they always lack consistency. The campaigns like these started with high hopes but lose steam in the long run. The only way this scheme can work in the long run is to create awareness among masses and food hygiene rating scheme can certainly help in this situation. This scheme brings the consumer in the equation and educates them to make their choices on given information.

Blame it on growing middle class or changing trends in the lifestyle of Pakistani families the restaurant industry is thriving in almost every city in Pakistan. With this growing culture of eating out and lack of hygienic conditions the country has witnessed a higher number of food-borne illnesses in the country.

Routine inspections by food authorities is a standard practice but by inspecting a restaurant and shutting it down or putting hefty fines on them have limitations. The hygienic enforcement policies cannot work alone without any form of deterrence that can affect the revenue source of the facility. The use of numeric scores and grades for communicating restaurant inspection results to the public has become a standard practice in the United Kingdom but recently, India has also started working in that direction.

Under this scheme, the food authority after inspecting a facility will rate the place on the scale accordingly. In the British system ‘0’ means urgent improvement is required and ‘5’ means the hygiene standards are excellent. This scorecard is usually placed on the door or at the visible place at the restaurant and on the website of food authority. This system not only gives the consumer more power to decide but studies in the West also report a positive impact on the business because restaurants with good score have reported increases in their sale.

The system creates an incentive for the business to keep the place under hygienic condition because a better score will also bring more business. Nevertheless, again it all depends on the consistency of government agencies and the interest consumers show regarding their health.