Punjab Food Authority seized and destroyed 3,000kg of fungus-contaminated expired ice cream from a leading multinational brand in Shahdara, imposed Rs10 million fine and suspended distribution amid complete corporate silence.
Pakistan’s most recognized multinational ice cream brand has a fungus problem. It also has a silence problem. And right now, the silence is doing more damage than the fungus.
Punjab Food Authority officials raided a store belonging to one of Pakistan’s most well-known multinational ice cream brands in Shahdara, seizing and destroying 3,000 kilograms of fungus-contaminated and expired ice cream in one of the most damaging food safety actions against a major consumer brand in recent Pakistani memory.
The seized products had reportedly expired in November 2025, months ago, and were allegedly being prepared for distribution to different cities across Pakistan. Fresh stock was found stored alongside the expired and contaminated product, creating a food safety risk that Punjab Food Authority Director General Raja Mansoor Ahmed described as a serious violation.
The company’s distribution was suspended. A Rs10 million fine was imposed. Three thousand kilograms of ice cream were confiscated and destroyed on the spot.
And the brand’s parent company, Pakistan’s largest multinational consumer goods corporation, said nothing.
Not a press release. Not a social media post. Not a statement to the media. Not an apology to consumers. Not a reassurance to the millions of Pakistani families who have been buying this brand’s ice cream for decades, trusting that one of the world’s most powerful consumer goods companies maintains the standards it advertises.
Nothing.
This Is the Second Time
Here is what makes the silence even more indefensible.
This is not the first contamination incident in recent weeks. This is the second time within a short period that a significant quantity of ice cream from the same multinational brand has been dumped due to fungal contamination.
Two incidents. Zero public responses. Zero media statements. Zero consumer communication.
In any functioning PR operation, the second contamination incident of the same nature within weeks triggers an immediate crisis communications response. A transparent investigation announcement. A consumer helpline. A public commitment to internal quality review. A named spokesperson is available to the media.
None of that has happened. And the absence of any response is itself the story.
A Lesson in Corporate Arrogance
Let us be direct about what this silence communicates.
It communicates that this multinational does not believe it owes Pakistani consumers an explanation. That the company’s size and market position make public accountability optional. That the millions of Pakistanis who buy its ice cream for their children are not stakeholders deserving communication, but simply a market to be served when convenient and managed through silence when inconvenient.
This is not how this company operates globally. Its international crisis communications framework is one of the most sophisticated in the world. When one of its brands faces a food safety issue in the UK, Europe, or North America, the company responds within hours with detailed public statements, transparent investigation timelines, product recall procedures, and consumer reassurance communications delivered across every available channel.
The question Pakistani consumers and media professionals are entitled to ask is whether this company’s Pakistan management operates under a different standard than its global operations, and whether that double standard is acceptable to its international headquarters.
A company that responds immediately to a consumer concern in Manchester but says nothing after 3,000kg of contaminated product is seized and destroyed in Lahore is telling you something about how it values those two markets relative to each other.
The answer should be uncomfortable for this company’s global leadership.
What a Competent PR Response Would Have Looked Like
For reference, here is what this multinational’s communications team should have done within 24 hours of the Punjab Food Authority action.
- Step 1: Issue a public statement acknowledging the Punjab Food Authority’s action, confirming the company takes food safety seriously, and outlining the immediate internal investigation being launched.
- Step 2: Announce a named point of contact for media queries and consumer concerns, making the company accessible rather than invisible.
- Step 3: Confirm to consumers which specific products and batches are affected, what the geographic distribution of those products was, and whether any consumer-facing recall is necessary.
- Step 4: Commit to a specific timeline for publicly sharing investigation results and implementing corrective measures.
- Step 5: Express genuine accountability, not legal-language minimization, to Pakistani consumers whose trust has been damaged.
None of these steps are complicated. All of them are standard practice for a consumer goods company of this scale and sophistication.
The failure to execute any of them suggests either that the company lacks the PR infrastructure to respond or that it has deliberately chosen not to. The first would be extraordinary for a company of this size. The second would be even more damaging.
Meanwhile, a Local Competitor, Hico, Is Winning
While this multinational navigates contamination scandals in silence, a smaller, more agile Pakistani ice cream brand has been quietly and consistently stealing market share for several years.
This local competitor has grown its presence through aggressive, confident marketing and a reputation for product quality that has translated into genuine consumer loyalty. It does not have the multinational’s global resources, its distribution network, or its marketing budget.
What it has is something the multinational brand appears to have forgotten it needs: a brand that Pakistani consumers trust right now.
Brand trust is not permanent. It is built through consistent quality and rebuilt through honest communication when quality fails. This multinational has failed on quality twice in recent weeks. It is failing on communication entirely.
Every week this company stays silent is a week its local competitor’s marketing team does not have to pay for. The silence is doing its competitive work for them.
Punjab Food Authority Deserves Credit
Before concluding, one institution deserves explicit acknowledgment.
Punjab Food Authority, operating under the Special Assistant to the Chief Minister, Salma Butt, and the Director General, Raja Mansoor Ahmed, conducted exactly the kind of aggressive, unannounced food safety inspection that protects Pakistani consumers from the consequences of corporate negligence.
Seizing 3,000 kilograms of contaminated product that was being prepared for distribution to multiple cities, imposing a meaningful Rs10 million fine, and suspending distribution is the regulatory action that food safety authorities are supposed to take.
The regulator did its job. The company failed to respond. Pakistani consumers are left in the middle, deciding whether to trust a brand that has had two contamination incidents and offered no explanation in the same month.
MediaBites Formally Requests a Response
MediaBites.com.pk formally requests this multinational company’s official response to the following questions:
- Can the company confirm the nature and scope of the Punjab Food Authority action against its store in Shahdara?
- What internal investigation has been launched in response?
- What corrective measures are being implemented to prevent recurrence?
- Why has no public statement been issued to consumers following either of the two recent contamination incidents?
- Does the company’s approach to communicating about food safety incidents in Pakistan meet the same standards applied globally?
This story will be updated in full upon receipt of any official response.
Pakistan’s consumers deserve answers. Pakistan’s biggest multinational consumer goods company has the resources, the expertise, and the obligation to provide them.
The silence is a choice. And it is the wrong one.
— Imran Malik | Business and Consumer Affairs Desk | MediaBites.com.pk | Sharjahnews.ae
MediaBites has contacted the company for comment. This story will be updated upon receipt of a response. All factual claims are based on published statements from the Punjab Food Authority and publicly available media reporting. MediaBites is not identifying the specific brand by name and invites the company to clarify any factual inaccuracies.
