Lahore, (PR) : An important milestone has been achieved in Punjab as the Food Minister Bilal Yasin launched the Special “Meat Safety Task Force” in PFA here on Thursday. The Food Minister spoke to media representatives after the launch. According to the details, a special meat safety task force consisting of meat specialist doctors will ensure detailed inspection of the meat supplied across Punjab. Bilal Yasin said that meat safety teams will conduct detailed inspections of slaughterhouses, frozen meat units, meat shops, and meat processing units daily. The Special Task Force will check the meat supplied at the entry points and meat markets of all districts including Lahore. A complete record of traceability of meat coming from poultry farms, and slaughterhouses will also be compiled and strict checking of entry points will be ensured in the morning hours. The Food Minister said that the Punjab Food Authority discarded 60 thousand kg of substandard meat during the checking of meat shops and entry points in a few days. He said that elements hostile to health will never be allowed to do business and continuous checking is going on to ensure quality milk, meat, and food. A historic reduction of 800 rupees in the price of a 20 kg bag of flour is ensured and the common man is getting all the fruits of our efforts. He said that steps are being taken to reduce the price of chicken, however, chicken is available in Lahore at Rs 100 less than in Peshawar, but the price will be brought down. The government is planning to ban the export of chicks so that the prices of chicken come down within the country. Answering the questions of the journalists on this occasion, the Minister of Food said that due to weather changes, the process of harvesting wheat has not started properly. Due to the high moisture content of wheat, it cannot be procured immediately. In a few days, wheat will be procured when the moisture content reaches 10% as per the wheat procurement policy. Out of nearly 4 lakh applications received on the Bardana app, around 121,000 applications have been approved by the Punjab Land Records Authority after verification and these farmers will be given Bardana. The government purchases less than 10% of the total wheat historically and we will again procure wheat despite the availability of carry-forward stocks but the moisture content should be up to 10% as per the policy. He said that the food department is taking care that the prices of wheat remain stable in the market and I’m telling this based on verified information that the price of wheat in Punjab is stable. In response to a question, Minister Food said that the government has taken many measures to provide relief to the people during these first 40 days of our tenure. The caretaker federal government imported wheat which was a damaging decision and should be investigated. Bilal Yasin said that our government stands with the farmer community and they will be taken care of. Bilal Yasin said that the farmers cannot be left alone and they will get their hard-earned money. Our government is also bringing a historic 130 billion rupees relief package for farmers.
