More moisture = more profit: Flourmills’ latest profit tactic

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More moisture = more profit: Flourmills’ latest profit tactic

* District Food Department found up to 30 percent moisture in 300 flour samples, permitted level is 13 percent



By Rana Kashif

LAHORE: A number of flourmills in the city have adopted a new tactic to earn more money on each sack of flour they sell – increase the flour’s moisture to make it heavier. Less flour per sack inevitably means more profits.

The District Food Department recently collected 300 samples of flour from different flourmills in the city and found that the moisture content in them was higher than the acceptable levels, a city government official told Daily Times on Tuesday. He said that the natural level of moisture in wheat flour was nine percent whereas the samples had moisture levels of up to 30 percent. Due to the increase in moisture, he said, the flour became heavier and every 20-kg flour sack actually contained 18.5 to 19 kg of flour. This reduction in flour means that the flourmill saved between Rs 18 and Rs 27 on every 20-kg flour sack.

The official said that the flourmills were employing this tactic because the government had not accepted their demand to increase the flour prices.

Another city government official said flourmills were already charging Rs 5 more per 20-kg sack than the government-approved wholesale price of Rs 365.

The official said that some citizens had also complained that the flour they had bought was soggy.

Saima Ansar, a housewife at Walton, said, “I have never seen such soggy flour.” She said that she did not believe that the ongoing spell of monsoon rains could have increased the flour’s moisture. “This is not the first monsoon I have seen, but this is the first time that I am seeing such soggy flour,” she said.

Talking to Daily Times over the phone, District Food Officer Dr Masood Pervaiz confirmed that high moisture levels had been found in more than 300 flour samples. However, he said that he could not tell the exact percentage of moisture in the samples since he was not in his office.

Pakistan Flourmills Association Chairman Haji Maqsood denied that moisture had been artificially increased in the flour. He said that local wheat contained nine to 12 percent of natural moisture while imported wheat had 12 to 14 percent of natural moisture. He said that according to the government, 13 percent moisture in flour was acceptable, but added that this was a very “low margin”.

Maqsood said that before grinding, wheat was washed for almost 12 hours and was then dried for 20 to 24 hours because wet wheat could not be properly ground.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg13_1