Dubai highlights 'Food Safety Week' until April 21

Dubai is celebrating "GCC Food Safety Week" with a series of activities aimed at creating increased awareness about food safety until April 21, a report from Gulf News said.

The municipality has urged food safety managers of hotels and restaurants to organise food safety events in their establishments involving staff members, customers, and suppliers in accordance with "GCC Food Safety Week" and run the activities throughout the week, the report said.

“Since food safety is the primary concern of any society, we are trying our best to engage all segments of the society through a wide array of events we have lined up for the GCC Food Safety Week,” Iman Ali Al Bastaki, Dubai Municipality food safety department director, said in a press release.

Al Bastaki continued: “According to the latest reports, the UAE has been ranked first in the Arab region when it comes to food safety and Dubai has always been at the forefront of all food safety-related initiatives — whether it is highly effective awareness campaigns, continuous and multiple rounds of inspections to ensure food safety or international conferences and exhibitions with the involvement of global experts in food safety."

According to the report, Bastaki hoped that the municipality’s events this week will have a positive impact at targeted stakeholders: the food industry, food outlets, regulatory bodies, as well as the general public.

The series of events, grouped under the slogan, “Together for Food Safety,” began with a food safety trends conference at Meydan Hotel this past Saturday, the report said. Today, the municipality is organising a food safety awareness programme for staff at its headquarters. The event includes seminars on food safety-related issues and an exhibition.

On Monday, the municipality will organise a food safety awareness programme for restaurants with D and E grade at the municipality’s Al Twar Centre aimed at helping them to improve their performance rating and standards. On Tuesday, the municipality’s food safety inspectors will be given pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) training at Al Twar Centre. PFGE is a molecular fingerprinting technique used to classify bacteria based on restriction sites within the bacterial genome beyond the species level. The activities during the "GCC Food Safety Week" will conclude with a public event involving quizzes and interactive educational sessions at Zabeel Park from 3pm to 7pm on April 21. Food safety brochures and food giveaways will be available for participants.