The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority has begun a province-wide campaign against businesses selling substandard food, acting on the instructions of Governor Faisal Karim Kundi. The drive targets everyday items that reach household tables across the province, including meat, fruit, vegetables, milk and other food products, and it will combine surprise inspections with legal action against traders found breaking the rules.
The campaign opened in Peshawar, where Director General Kashif Iqbal Jillani led inspection teams through food outlets along Charsadda Road and Dalazak Road and in the Faqirabad area. The teams visited slaughterhouses, butcher shops, milk shops and other food businesses, checking hygiene standards and the quality of what was on sale. During the visits, one milk shop was served a warning notice for failing to meet hygiene requirements, a reminder that even small lapses can put customers at risk.
Jillani also inspected a slaughterhouse in Shah Alam on Charsadda Road, where he reviewed the arrangements in place and told the staff to raise cleanliness standards and follow food safety regulations in full. He was accompanied by Director Operations Muhammad Yousaf and Deputy Director of the Peshawar Division Zeeshan Mehsud, and the inspection team made clear that the visits were only the start of a wider effort rather than a one-off exercise.
Under the campaign, food safety teams across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been told to step up their inspections and to take firm legal action, without discrimination, against any business found selling substandard products. Jillani stressed that there would be no compromise on food quality or public health, and he directed officials to tighten monitoring at every stage, from the preparation and storage of food to its transportation and sale, so that only safe and good-quality items reach consumers.
For families across the province, the success of this campaign will be judged not by the number of inspections announced but by whether the food in local markets genuinely improves. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has run food safety drives before, and traders know that attention often fades once the headlines move on. If the authority follows through with consistent checks and visible penalties for repeat offenders, shoppers may finally see a lasting change; if enforcement weakens, the campaign risks becoming another short-lived warning that unsafe sellers simply wait out.
