Food safety more important than ever in Mid East

Dr. Rashid Bin Fahad, UAE Minister of Environment and Water, opened the sixth Dubai International Food Safety Conference, held alongside the Gulfood Exhibition at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).

He highlighted the fact that 160 countries import food into Dubai alone, underlining the need for increased vigilance when handling and storing food produce.

“A single ice cream could contain wheat imported from Russia, milk from the Netherlands, butter from New Zealand, Cacao from Ghana and chocolate from Switzerland,” said Dr. Rashid.

“Food safety is a global challenge and we need strong partnerships to protect people from unsafe food and to make the food available and affordable to all through measures that are sustainable.”

These sentiments were echoed by DuPont President of applied biosciences, nutrition and health, Craig Binetti, at the Du Pont press conference.

“One of the biggest trends we have seen is the growing need for the accessibility, affordability, availability and security of food,” said Binetti, citing Du Pont’s research into global food trends.

“In the Middle East in particular we have noticed there is high importance attached to food safety and the need for a longer shelf life.”

DuPont’s research into food packaging has revealed a need for peelable seals on dairy produce in particular, as well as a unique demand for single dosage water cups packaged for both convenience and safety.

Asraf Shehata, scientific and regulatory affairs manager for Mars GCC, echoed these sentiments and drew particular attention to the need for judicious food labelling in relation to allergens within the realm of food safety.

“Food regulations are still in the developing stages in the Middle East in comparison to US standards,” said Shehata.

“Today there is no labelling done with regards to allergens in food throughout the whole of the Middle East.”

Shehata cautioned that over-labelling food with warnings against allergens could be counter-productive, causing consumers to take even greater risks with foods than they might otherwise. Instead he advocated as much due diligence in terms of food segregation and cleaning as possible, to avoid the risk of allergen contamination.

He added the Dubai International Food Safety Conference was a crucially important forum.

“Today the number and diversity of participants in the conference reflects how committed Dubai is to raising awareness of and building competency in food safety, and I’d like to see it grow,” Shehata asserted.