Since the beginning of the year 2021, Dubai Municipality has inspected more than 69,000 food establishments to ensure the safety and compliance with COVID-19 protocols.

According to Sultan Al Taher, director of the Food Safety Department at Dubai Municipality, the number of food establishments inspected this year was significantly higher than annual average of 45,000 inspections the authority conducts every year.

Speaking with the Khaleej Times, the official highlighted that the Municipality inspected a large number of establishments to ensure adherence with COVID-19 safety precautions. Dubai Municipality also ramped up inspections across food outlets with close to 70,000 outlets inspected so far.

“We have regular food safety checklists, and we also ensure pandemic-related precautions are followed,” he underlined. He added that the general compliance rate of food establishments took at 90 percent. Food establishments inspected include restaurants, cafeterias, supermarkets, food kiosks among others. Outlets found in violation of the protocols were fined with temporary closures. In a number of cases, outlets ensured corrective measures within a day.

"In the case of critical or high-risk violations, the maximum closure time imposed on the food establishments is one week. The response time from the health inspectors are fast and efficient,” Al Taher added.

Al Taher further explained that some of common mistakes made by outlets relate to maintaining personal hygiene and lack of training among staff. For instance, in some cases, the establishments were not found clean and there was low level of personal hygiene. However, most of the violations were minor errors and found to be repetitive.

The official affirmed that the Municipality would ensure the continuity of precautionary measures and maintaining high standards of cleanliness across all food establishments in the coming year.

“We will continue to monitor food establishments to ensure they adhere to Covid-19 protocols in the coming year,” Al Taher said.

Municipality action plan

Besides carrying out routine inspections, examiners reviewed the customer tip-offs submitted by the general public. Al Taher noted that the authority conducted several surprise checks during the weekends, emergencies, and public holidays. The public placed a number of complaints with the Dubai Municipality on the 800900 helplines.

“We receive an average of 15 complaints per day. However, the number of calls about COVID-19 have reduced since July this year. We do get several calls that are unrelated to us as well,” Al Taher added.

According to the director of the food safety department, residents often place complaints about the quality of food and time management of the delivery guys.

After the International Food Safety Conference, Dubai Municipality launched a new rating system. The authority has affirmed that establishments can submit their proposal for Dubai Star from early January 2022 until April 30, 2022. The authority will announce the winners at the next session of the food safety conference, scheduled to take place in November 2022.

It is a global initiative to encourage restaurants to implement sustainable practices in order to produce safe, healthy, high-quality food. In this regard, the best-rated restaurants will receive recognition on an annual basis.

“Only restaurants that have achieved an A-grade rating for three years in a row can apply for Dubai Star,” he further underlined.

In addition to this, the Dubai Municipality has launched various initiatives in the areas of food safety and nutrition including Green Path, Enhancing Knowledge Efficiency of Food Handlers, and Enhancing Food Transport Systems and Logistics Services through integration with RTA.