Chefs encouraged to share more with municipality

Chefs and F&B managers have been urged by the Dubai Municipality to be more open with regard to non-compliance of distributors to help standards improve in the industry.

When chefs revealed issues faced during delivery, Dubai Municipality food health inspection officer Muhammad Khalid Saeed said that while operators may not always be able to pressurise suppliers to make changes, the municipality definitely can. “We are trying to get all traders to implement a proper system,” he said.

The noodle house brand chef Jason Pettit asked whether the municipality tracks or monitors suppliers. He said: “I had a supplier last year and part of the packaging is a plastic tray for chocolate fondant. We had issues with a particular batch where part of the packaging was sticking to the bottom.

"Corrective action came back the first time and our food and safety officer was not satisfied. We had a second complaint so I binned the supplier because they had two chances. Should that then have been followed up with the municipality?”

Saeed said: “Yes, sometimes hotels inform us unofficially as well. Similarly you can officially log in a complaint. On other cases, like traceability, we can help you trace back the product.” He stressed it was important for the hospitality industry to communicate any concerns with the municipality immediately.

Unilever Food Solutions executive chef - Middle East, Pakistan, Sri Lanka Jéan Van Der Westhuizen agreed and said collaboration between chefs, manufacturers and local authorities like the municipality are important to improve standards of distributors in the region.

Read the full roundtable in the October issue of Caterer Middle East.