Eating out: The fault in our foodSHARE TWEET

Eating out: The fault in our foodBy Ferya Ilyas / PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO / Creative: Aamir Khan

Published: July 5, 2015

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In Pakistan, gastronomic indulgence comes with a hidden cost. “Seventy per cent of the food available in the market is adulterated and 52% of mineral water available is unsafe for drinking,” says Muddassar Alam Tahirkheli, manager governance at Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan, sharing what an insider revealed at one of the cabinet meetings. Though sale of contaminated food or beverages is an offense in Pakistan under consumer laws, Tahirkheli says most food producers continue to use substandard raw materials such as contaminated water and inferior food colours, flavours, fats and oils because there is weak implementation of laws and a virtually non-existent integrated legal framework for food safety.

The contamination, however, is not just limited to the ingredients. In most cases, persons preparing the food are not wearing gloves and hairnets, and the food is prepared in dirty kitchens infested with cockroaches. “Often the food is spoiled not because of substandard ingredients, but by an unhygienic handler who is sweating profusely in a poorly ventilated kitchen while adding chillies to the gravy,” says Karachi’s chief food inspector Abdul Waheed Bhatti, who heads a platoon of 13 food examiners instead of what should ideally be a battalion of 2,000 inspectors.

Appalling conditions of food storage are a common sight in the country. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO

Bhatti, along with a handful of comrades, travels around the sprawling mega city, snooping around kitchens for a rusty utensil or expired frozen meat. In a perfect world, we would expect Bhatti to seal a restaurant if he spots a health code violation, but unfortunately that is not the case. Food inspectors in Karachi are working under a decades-old legislation, the Pure Food Ordinance 1960, which limits their role to just filing complaints with local magistrates. “We take samples of the food and if it fails the laboratory test, we file a detailed report which is forwarded to the relevant magistrate,” Bhatti explains, adding as a consequence restaurant owners are merely fined somewhere between Rs500 and Rs3,000 for offences that could be potentially fatal, as was seen in the case of the case of 13-year-old Kanza Ahmed. The teenager passed away earlier this year after consuming a burger from Dilpasand in Karachi declared ‘unfit’ for human consumption in a test conducted four days after her death. Many raised questions about whether the food was perfectly stored before it hit the lab, but the fact remains that Kanza and her family went through an episode of stomach ache and vomiting right after consuming the meal.

Although far from ideal, the situation in Lahore is relatively better. The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) — responsible for the availability of safe and wholesome food fit for human consumption — in its annual report for 2013-14, boasts visiting 19,040 food outlets and collecting 17,649 samples against Karachi’s estimated 8,000 samples. It has issued notices to big names, while sealing 598 hotels, restaurants and bakeries. “We have a comprehensive law which covers several aspects of food safety. With 4,000 registered restaurants, action is taken against anyone found violating the food safety code,” PFA’s Deputy Director Operations Saqib Munir says as he begins to explain the organogram in place for inspection. The PFA has nine teams for every town in Lahore, each team comprising three members. “During our checks, we detected major problems with washing and storage,” he adds, explaining food handlers at most places did not have any soap to wash their hands with before and after preparing food.

Most of the time food sold at roadside stalls is not safe for consumption. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO

The number of inspectors in Lahore is not much higher either but PFA units in the city have more power and authority than their counterparts in other cities. Although not entirely impressed, Karachi’s Bhatti agrees that PFA’s governing law has teeth. “PFA is only limited to Lahore since it was established in 2011 but their work is good as they can impose hefty fines and seal outlets,” says Bhatti. Praising PFA, Masood Sadiq Butt, director general of National Institute of Food Science and Technology at Faisalabad’s University of Agriculture, adds, “It’s time such food safety structures are set up across Pakistan.” While emphasising the importance of inspection exercises to ensure food standards, he says, “In Pakistan, people only follow rules out of fear. Restaurant owners must know that they will be held responsible if something goes wrong.”

The local laws and World Health Organization (WHO) standards state that to provide safe food, a restaurant must ensure five things: the food handler and cooking area is clean, water and raw materials used are safe, raw and cooked foods are stored separately, food (particularly meat and poultry) is cooked thoroughly and stored at appropriate temperatures.

In Pakistan, food inspectors are in the field conducting raids almost every day. Food safety violations are rampant in the country with cases of food poisoning reported in local newspapers every other day. “Almost every time a case of food poisoning is reported, it has been food consumed outside the house,” says Yusra Bint-e-Khalid, a food safety coordinator at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi. “When eating out, we don’t know if the dishes were washed properly, how hygienic the kitchen was or whether the cooks washed their hands before preparing the meal,” she says, relaying the concerns of many in the country.

Street food thrives amid unhygienic conditions. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO

Senior scientific officer at Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s microbiology lab in Islamabad, Dr Sabahat, took food samples for research and development work from restaurants along motorways in Punjab only to find that the majority of restaurants there were offering substandard food to the travellers. Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s senior director of medical and health services, Dr Salma Kausar Ali, shares her ordeal during a raid on a bakery. With a look of absolute disgust on her face, Ali says people would stop buying baked treats altogether if they ever step inside a filthy bakery kitchen.

During Ramazan, alleys and sidewalks are overflowing with stalls selling samosas, pakoras and jalaibees to satiate public demand. As small-scale set-ups surface everywhere, experts advise people to think twice before indulging in items from these places. “Food sold at roadside stalls is not safe for consumption most of the time,” warns Professor Butt. Due to their low-cost business model, street vendors fail to ensure basic safety standards such as cleanliness, high quality ingredients and clean water. “The food dyes used in cooking are toxic and can cause cancer,” he says. “You must have seen children buying cheap confectioneries which stain their tongue,” he adds.

Most roadside stalls do not cover their items, allowing flies to feed on them. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO

According to Professor Butt buying pakoras and other fried snacks from outside can be unsafe as many sellers — due to sheer increase in demand during Ramazan — focus on quantity while quality takes a backseat. “Often these snacks are fried in low-quality oil which turns into dangerous trans-fat because of reheating and overheating,” he says. Additionally, as the oil begins to run low, instead of throwing away the remainder most pour more oil into the karahi spoiling the entire lot. “Trans-fat clogs arteries and causes coronary heart disease,” he adds.

On refrying leftover snacks, food inspector Bhatti says pakoras and samosas cannot be refried as the look and taste changes overtime. “You can freeze uncooked samosas

and pakora batter but once they are deep fried, they have to be consumed,” Bhatti says, adding majority of the food outlets give away all that is left behind. “Many restaurants and sweetmeat shops distribute leftover food among their employees, madrassas and charities after they close for the day. A few wait till midnight but not beyond that,” he says.

An unappetising display of dates at a roadside stall. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO

Overall, food sold by hawkers or at roadside stalls pose greater health risks. Vendors lack the basic infrastructure to keep food safe and in most cases possess zero knowledge of hygiene, both environmental and personal. “They also fail to follow the most important food rule: warm food should be kept warm and cold food should be kept cold,” says Professor Butt. Moreover, WHO advises consumers to buy street food that is prepared in front of them, using safe ingredients and clean equipment and by someone who has taken extra precaution for hygiene.

The food scene in the country might be unpleasant, but not all is bad. There appears to be a consensus among people in the food safety industry that big names provide safer food. “Believe it or not, restaurant giants maintain their own food safety standards. Go eat there!” Khalid advises, seconded by Professor Butt. In contrast to small-scale businesses that have no concept of hygiene, Khalid says, “Renowned restaurants prepare food in a clean environment with good quality produce and ensure those handling food [follow the kitchen dress code].”

Men prepare bun kebabs at a roadside stall without wearing gloves. PHOTOS BY ARIF SOOMRO

In agreement, food inspector Bhatti says, famous eateries will not risk losing customers to safety scandals. “If you find your food is substandard, wouldn’t you stop going to that outlet and tell your family and friends to do the same?” Erum Basit, product development chef at a top restaurant in Karachi, corroborates Bhatti’s claims. She admits that although smaller in number, high-end restaurants follow strict hygiene standards. “Hair nets and gloves are mandatory for all kitchen employees while a team of qualified food personnel is responsible for implementing the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system (a process through which food is inspected at all stages of production),” she reveals, adding that a regular training programme is also carried out for kitchen and floor staff. Despite the strict safety measures, however, Basit laments the lack of qualified staff in the industry which makes food standard violations an everyday reality.

Kanza, who allegedly died due to food poisoning in January, was one of the two million people who succumb to contaminated food or unsafe drinking water globally every year. Although there is no consolidated data on the number of people who fall sick in Pakistan, media reports provide a snapshot of the alarming situation in the country.

Victims of food poisoning notice symptoms after hours, sometimes days, says Khalid. “The contaminating bacteria pass from the stomach into the intestines and begin to multiply. Some produce harmful substances that are absorbed into the bloodstream while others directly invade body tissues,” she adds. “The symptoms depend greatly on the type of bacteria, but the most common reactions are diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach cramps,” she says, adding that diarrhoea and vomiting are a result of the body trying to rid itself of harmful bacteria.

Men package dates with their bare hands. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO

In extreme instances, stomach aches and cramping lead to bloody diarrhoea, kidneys shutting down and seizures and the worst case scenario is ‘death by food’. Losing precious life to an illness as preventable as food poisoning is unfortunate. With increased globalisation of the food chain and no integrated safety system in place in the country, the major burden of preventing food poisoning falls on consumers.

Food served at roadside restaurants is often prepared in unsanitary cooking conditions. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO

Given the fact that more and more people are eating out, experts advise prevention over cure. “Even small details make a huge difference; I would never eat food from a restaurant whose server has untrimmed nails,” Khalid says.

*The graphs in the story are results of a survey conducted on The Express

Tribune website. A total of 334 participants from different backgrounds

completed the survey.

Ferya Ilyas is a senior subeditor at The Express Tribune. She tweets @ferya_ilyas

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, July 5th, 2015.

  Flash floods: Ice G-BSHARE TWEET

Flash floods: Ice G-BBy Shabbir Mir / Creative: Hira Fareed

Published: October 25, 2015

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Residents of Bagrote valley patrol the area at night to preempt any glacial lake outburst floods. DESIGN BY HIRA FAREED

In the early 1900s, residents of Gilgit-Baltistan’s (G-B) Bagrote valley, around 40 kilometres from Gilgit city, patrolled their territory to guard it against Gohar Aman’s onslaughts. Aman was a ruthless ruler of what is now Ghizer district in G-B and a fierce opponent of Bagrote’s residents. Stories of Aman’s atrocities still find their way in everyday conversations.

Today, more than a century later, Bagrote’s people continue to patrol the area. Their adversary, though, is no longer a man. It is Mother Nature’s fury, triggered by climate change. Surrounded by 13 glaciers, the valley is inhabited by nearly 16,000 people. These residents live under a constant threat of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF), a natural phenomenon that has resulted in substantial losses in various parts of the world over the years.

This year alone, four GLOFs instigated flash floods which swept away eight bridges, a hydel power project, dozens of water channels, standing crops and roads in Bagrote valley. Agriculture accounts for 15% of G-B’s production and such climatic catastrophes put a serious dent in the area’s economy.

“We are at risk of flash floods and the situation aggravates from June to October,” says Adil Shah, a local farmer. “There were so many flash floods this year. We were able to save our lives only because we were vigilant and adopted precautionary measures,” he adds, referring to the village hazard watch group (VHWG) formed by the Pakistan GLOF Project. The GLOF Project is working with GLOF-prone mountain communities in northern Pakistan to reduce risks from GLOFs and flash floods caused by melting snow.

At least 10 VHWGs were formed under the project, one in each village. The VHWG was equipped with the necessary equipment to alert locals in case of flash floods. Each group consists of around six men, most of them shepherds who spend their time on mountain peaks with their herds of livestock. They are provided cellphones and trained to use the devices, enabling them to communicate any possible threat to others.

“Though no loss of life occurred, the loss of property was immense. People have lost their livelihood,” laments Shah. “The role of VHWGs was critical. We are thankful to GLOF Project for that,” adds the farmer, who lost his brother to a flashflood in the valley two decades ago.

Another local farmer, Imtiaz Ali, says the village has been without electricity for the past month after a hydel power project was swept away in a flood.

Climate change

The change in weather patterns has had a profound effect on farmers. “Till two decades ago, the ploughing season would start on March 21. It now begins in February,” shares Ali. “The date has now just become a ceremonial activity to reminisce.”

Dr Babar Khan of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says snow which usually fell on mountain peaks in November and December now comes a month or so later. “This delay means there is less time before the snow ultimately melts and triggers floods when the weather gets warmer around April.”

Averting disasters

Pakistan GLOF Project has taken a number of precautionary measures to avert catastrophes in Bagrote valley. Special embankments called ‘gabion walls’ were constructed at six places along the ravines to neutralise the flow of water which has previously swept away homes and wreaked havoc.

“The technique proved instrumental in saving the population from disaster as at least four GLOFs occurred this year,” says Zahid Shah of GLOF Project, under which locals removed debris from four ravines with the help of excavators to help flood water pass uninterrupted. “Previously, nullahs were filled with boulders which obstructed the flow of water and changed its course towards villages.”

In the same vein, a ‘safe haven’ has been prepared for villagers in case of any impending doom. The facility is equipped with necessary items including medicines, tents, edibles and toilets. A group of at least 33 men and women have also been trained in risk reduction techniques. Moreover, an endowment fund of Rs2,200,000 has been created to help communities prevent disasters or mitigate losses. Local communities contributed Rs200,000 to this fund.

In addition to these measures, the meteorological department has set up two weather stations at an altitude of 4,100 metres to collect data from satellites. “According to the data compiled in 2013, there are 36 lakes close to glaciers. And if these lakes overflow

and trigger floods, they are bound to wreck havoc with the population downstream,” warns Shah. “The entire region is mountainous like Bagrote, posing a continuous risk of flash floods,” he says. “The only way out of this is to replicate the programme in other areas as well.”

Shabbir Mir is a Gilgit-based reporter for The Express Tribune. He tweets

@ShabbirMir

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, October 25th, 2015.

  Singapore: A portrait of peace and diversitySHARE TWEET

Singapore: A portrait of peace and diversityBy Naveed Hussain / Creative: EESHA AZAM

Published: October 18, 2015

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Singapore charms you from the moment you land there. DESIGN BY EESHA AZAM

I woke up to a melodic, saccharine voice. “Fasten your seat-belts, please. We’ll be landing at Changi International Airport in about 15 minutes,” announced a flight attendant onboard Cathay Pacific B777. The sky was partly cloudy. The sun peeped in and out of clouds floating past, the rays glinting off my window. Down in the Singapore Strait, bulk freighters and gigantic cargo ships looked like small paper boats. Changi airport is one of the best in the world — but in Singapore’s equatorial downpours, it sometimes becomes a dangerous airport to fly into.

We landed safely. In stark contrast to Karachi’s Quaid-e-Azam International Airport, Changi’s ambience exuded affluence. It is the diversity of greenery here that truly leaves one amazed. Terminal-I has a cactus garden, showcasing dozens of species of cacti and succulents from Asia, Africa and North and South America. The fern garden

at Terminal-II is landscaped with giant Tasmanian tree ferns, featuring tropical ferns from the oldest rainforests in the world. The Changi Airport Orchid Garden features spider orchids, Singapore’s famous hybrid butterfly orchids, and moth orchids from the Orchid Island of Taiwan.

As I was looking for the exit, I ran into a young, smiling airport staffer. “Can you please guide me to the main exit?” I asked. “Are you going to some hotel?” he replied in sing-song tonal English (in Singapore, the English accent is peppered with Mandarin, Malay and Tamil words — some people call it Singlish). “We offer tourists a free ride,” the young man continued, pointing to a counter some 50 yards away.

And so my journey began. The bus cruised through busy downtown districts, serene, sleepy residential neighbourhoods and refreshing botanical gardens. The architecture is a unique mix of pre-war styles: traditional Malay houses, temples of Chinese immigrants, and classical colonial architecture. After World War II and as Singapore began to emerge as a major global sea lane, its architecture, too, began to be shaped by international trends such as brutalism and postmodernism.

Singaporean society is a vivid portrait of diversity, a multicultural kaleidoscope. It was an idyllic island of Malay fishermen until 1819 when British colonial administrator Sir Stamford Raffles, the architect of modern Singapore, arrived. Subsequently,

merchants and migrants flocked in from the southern provinces of China, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Ceylon and the Middle East in search of a better future here.

I was in Singapore for a three-day seminar hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The day after I arrived, I met with nearly two dozen invitees to the seminar from South, Southeast and East Asian countries and as far as Fiji. At the WIPO’s head office, top local businessmen proudly told their success stories, while WIPO executives fed us as much information as they could. They wanted us to swallow and digest as much as we could in the brief time that we were there.

Around 2 pm lunch was served. A small canteen at the WIPO offices offered dishes completely strange to my taste buds. Like its ethnic diversity, Singapore serves up a true melting pot of flavours and food. Chinese cuisine is a major player in the local gastronomy as Cantonese dim sum, Hainanese chicken rice, Peking duck, Hokkien mee (fried noodles) and popiah (spring rolls) are some of the popular Chinese dishes. But you will also find halal Malay food, South Indian vegetarian thali and North Indian biryani in restaurants across the country.

For the next two days we had the same schedule. A commute to the WIPO head office, a long session of presentations, lunch with WIPO executives and then back to our hotel. After we returned from dinner on the second night, fellow journalists Rhaydz Barcia of The Manila Times, Revolusi Riza of Indonesia’s Trans 7, Vijay Narayan of Communications Fiji Ltd and Jacqueline Wari of Fiji’s The National — who had become friends by now — decided to go on a sightseeing trip.

I’d already seen the legendary Mermaid of Denmark, and wanted to see the famous Merlion, the half-lion, half-fish must-see icon of Singapore. Merlion symbolises the country’s humble beginning as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, ‘sea town’ in Old Javanese. Its head represents Singapore’s original name, Singapura, or ‘lion city’ in Malay. It was built by local craftsman Lim Nang Seng and unveiled in September 1972 at the mouth of the Singapore River. However, when the Esplanade Bridge was completed in 1997, Merlion could no longer be viewed clearly from the waterfront. In 2002, it was relocated 120 metres away to Merlion Park.

The next day, we went to the iconic Raffles Hotel for dinner with the WIPO family. The most famous luxury hotel in Singapore, Raffles, named after the city state founder Sir Stamford Raffles, epitomises the island’s colonial history. The hotel’s main building, designed by RAJ Bidwell, is a beautiful example of neo-Renaissance architecture with tropical touches like high ceilings and extensive verandas. The hotel is said to have played host to literary legends like Somerset Maugham, Herman Hesse and Rudyard Kipling.

Before I departed Singapore, I wanted to buy something for my son, Mikael, as a souvenir. My Indonesian and Vietnamese colleagues promised to take me to a market before we left for the airport for our long journey back home. The next morning, we set off for Bugis Street, the island’s famous retail shopping market. In the 1950s, Bugis Street was the sleaze pit of Singapore where flamboyantly dressed transvestites would parade themselves, attracting sailors and servicemen from overseas. Today, Bugis Street has undergone a massive facelift, and houses nearly 800 shops selling inexpensive clothes, shoes, accessories and food, and offering beauty services.

Shopping in the narrow alleyways of this undercover market crammed with shoppers was fun. Surprisingly, Bugis Street resembles Karachi’s Zaibunnisa Street in more ways than one. I bought some T-shirts and chocolates for my son and some gifts for my wife — all for less than 100 Singaporean dollars. My colleagues also shopped for friends and families before we returned to the hotel one last time. Back in the hotel, we quickly packed and left for Changi airport. I left Singapore that day — but a part of me refused to come back.

Naveed Hussain is national editor at The Express Tribune. He tweets

@navidjourno 

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, October 18th, 2015.