Food inspections intensified ahead of Ramadan

 

DUBAI: The Food Control Department at Dubai Municipality (DM) is well geared up for Ramadan in order to preserve the health and safety of members of the community during the Holy Month. The civic body will carry out regular inspections throughout the month to make sure that food establishments meet the hygiene requirements for the transporting, storage, preparation and display of foodstuffs. During Ramadan, it is a common practice among the public to buy snacks sold on the streets. Consumption of fried foods in the month of Ramadan is more, and therefore the DM is focused on the quality of oil used in frying foods and making sure places of storage and preparation areas of foods are hygienic. The expected rise in temperature and humidity during the Ramadan will accelerate the damage to and deterioration of the food in the absence of complying with the rules by keeping each food item within the appropriate temperature range. The municipality on Sunday has issued a memo in this regard to all food outlets to ensure that food is prepared and displayed safely during the month. According to the order, the food outlets including eateries, bakery outlets, restaurants, cafeterias, catering service establishments and retail shops require a separate Municipality permit to display and sell snacks, sweets and other traditional food items. Khalid Mohammed Sharif, director of Food Control Department at DM, said, “All foods should be sold in closed display cases in a clean area, free of spills, dirt and pests. The snacks should be sold in clean packs. Open displays will not be permitted.” “Food handlers who sell snacks should maintain high standards of personal hygiene by wearing gloves and head covers. They should also have occupational health cards,” added Sharif. The municipality will make ensure that foods are cooked at appropriate temperatures, and after preparation they are preserved at temperatures of more than 65˚C for keeping them hot and less than 5˚C for keeping them cool. Not keeping food at temperatures in the range between 5˚C and 65˚C is highly risky and may lead to food decaying and incidence of food poisoning, warns Bobby Krishna, senior food safety officer at the municipality. “All snacks with stuffed meat, vegetables and eggs should be kept hot at 65˚C or above until sold. Certain snacks like pakoras and fries that are not stuffed can be kept for not more than two hours from the time of preparation,” he explained. “Proper temperatures help control the growth of pathogens (agents such as bacteria that can cause disease) in food. Food held out of temperature is considered a serious risk factor,” he added. “Open display of food leads to contamination and renders the food unsafe for human consumption. Bacteria, viruses and other pathogens can find its way into the food through contaminated environment, people and pests,” said Krishna. Sharif called upon the food establishments to apply before the Holy Month for special permission to display and sell food during Ramadan to ensure that they comply with the hygiene requirements for external display. He advised consumers not to buy food from outlets that do not follow the municipality rules. “If you find food displayed in the open, please report to us at 800-900.” Food outlets fined Meanwhile, inspectors in Ajman have fined hundreds of food related establishments for not meeting the requirements of food safety in the emirate in the first six months of this year, officials have told. Municipality inspectors made 17,243 inspections and fined 1,328 establishments that were in violation. The figures also showed that the municipality received a total of 1,052 complaints from the public on food outlets. The Municipality Food Control Laboratory also examined 4,485 samples of food items from 642 food outlets both licensed and those seeking a licence and found only 46 samples not fit for human consumption. There were no comparative figures given in previous years. Yahya Ibrahim Ahmed, director general of Ajman Municipality and Directorate of Planning, said they were tightening their food control inspections all over the emirate to ensure that residents’ lives were not at risk of food poisoning. “We are adding about 12 new devices in the central food laboratory, including devices that would examine samples of milk and juices not present in the laboratory before,” he said. Eng. Khalid Moeen Al Hosani, director general of Public Health and Environment Department at the Municipality, said inspections were to be intensified as part of the municipality’s preparations for the Holy Month of Ramadan. “We have made all the arrangements to ensure that inspectors reach every corner of the emirate and ensure that the food in the market does not affect the health of our fasting residents,” he said. Meanwhile, in a pre-Ramadan special inspection drive on high-risk food outlets in Madinat Zayed in the Western Region, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) inspectors issued 19 warnings and destroyed 16 kilogrammes of food items. No violations were charged because of considerable improvement in adherence to food safety standards in general in the city. Targeting a total of 34 food outlets in the city which included restaurants, cafeterias, bakeries and confectioneries, meat and fish shops and the central market, the three teams of inspectors also tried to raise the level of food safety awareness among workers in the outlets. Mohamed Jalal Al Reyaysa, director of Communication and Community Service at ADFCA, said the authority was spreading its wings far and wide in order to ensure a food-safe Ramadan for all citizens, residents and visitors. “In view of the Ramadan rush in food outlets, we are now conducting rigorous inspections at all food establishments, especially the high-risk ones so that the Holy Month passes off without any untoward incidents caused by unsafe foods. We call upon the public to bring to our notice any food safety violations they come across,” he added.