Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.
Ayesha Mumtaz inspects food during a raid on a backyard sweets factory in Lahore, Pakistan. Her campaign to clean up the kitchens and food factories of Pakistan has earned her the nickname “The Fearless One.”
Philip Reeves/NPR
As soon as the pink-clad Ayesha Mumtaz steps out of her car, word of her arrival spreads along the street like a forest fire. Storekeepers begin shooing away customers, hauling down the shutters, and heading into the shadows in the hope that Mumtaz’s scrutinizing eye will not fall on them.
These traders would sooner lose business than risk a visit from a woman whose campaign to clean up the kitchens and food factories of Pakistan has made her a national celebrity, nicknamed “The Fearless One.”
Today, Mumtaz has come to a crowded alley in Lahore, a city with a long history of producing splendid South Asian cuisine, but with a less distinguished record of worrying about how food reaches the plate.
She is here to …