Al Dhaid Municipality has issued fines to 40 food establishments and sounded stern warning to 76 others for violating health, environment and hygiene regulations.
Ahmed Mussabah Al Tunaiji, head of the public health at Al Dhaid Municipality, told Khaleej Times that the inspection teams from food controls, and environment and health department carried out 629 surprise inspections targeted at grocery stores, roaster shops, mills as well as female salons, restaurants, cafeterias and public kitchens. “During these visits, the inspectors fined 40 food establishments and warned 76 for ignoring health and environment regulations,” he said.
He pointed out that the inspectors examined the level of personal hygiene maintained by the employees of the food outlets. They checked if the employees were abiding by health protection rules related to preparation and storage of food, and its distribution.
Some of the errant outlets were slapped hefty fines of up to Dh10,000(INR 1,75,000 Aprox), while some were warned and told to rectify the violation.
The inspections will continue, along with awareness campaigns to educate the food traders about the importance of properly storing the food items while maintaining the right temperature. “Intensifying control and supervision on the food shops to ensure adherence to validity date of the food items in restaurants, small grocery stores, shops and the sale of sweets is important to prevent food poisoning during the summer.”
Al Tunaiji added that the presence of abattoirs in the region contributed to curbing illegal slaughtering of animals. These also help in protecting the environment from pollution, as waste resulting from slaughter is not disposed of in an unhealthy way.
The butchers at the abattoir follow cleaning and sterilization procedures before and after the slaughter process.
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