DUBAI // Educating food handlers and enforcing rules is improving the health standards in the emirate's rapidly rising number of outlets, a conference heard yesterday.
Sultan Ali Al Taher, head of inspection at the municipality's food control department, said businesses were taking the message seriously.
"We've seen a huge increase in the number of places that serve or sell food and drinks in Dubai over the last few years," Mr Al Taher told the final day of the Food Chain summit.
"Due to improving education of workers and using enforcement when necessary we are seeing fewer complaints."
The municipality received 3,015 complaints from the public in 2011, compared with 2,372 last year.
But it also closed more businesses last year because of food-safety breaches - 191, from 97 in 2011.
"The closures were due to the increase in campaigns we ran in that period," said Mr Al Taher. "These aren't permanent closures. The owner is always given the opportunity to reopen if they make changes and it is approved by an inspector."
He said most complaints the department received were frivolous.
"On one occasion a man had visited a seafood buffet and decided to eat 20 shrimp," Mr Al Taher said.
"He had already eaten 19, but on the last one he complained it didn't taste the same as the ones before. "Despite this we investigate every complaint we get."
Each year between 500 and 700 food outlets open in Dubai. To keep pace the food control department is considering increasing the number of inspectors and boosting education for owners and staff.
Inspectors focus on areas where food is eaten, such as restaurants and coffee shops. About 55 per cent of the 9,981 outlets operating in Dubai last year were in this category.
"Inspection isn't the only answer , though," said Mr Al Taher.
Figures presented at the conference showed 31.8 per cent of people working in food outlets barely had an elementary level of education.
"It's not just a case of sending out inspectors everywhere to fine and close down businesses," said Bobby Krishna, senior food studies officer at the department.
"We take part in a lot of conferences and meet the owners of these companies to tell them about the food-safety code and how to implement it. We also run workshops with the workers to explain it in a simple way so that they can understand the importance of food safety."
Another tactic is to train members of staff who can pass on skills to other workers.
"Changing the culture of food safety is the main aim for us because once you make food hygiene and safety the accepted norm, then people will stick to it," said Mr Krishna.
The municipality plans to translate its food-safety information into 15 languages.
nhanif@thenational.ae
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Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
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- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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