(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Over 2,400 high-risk food establishments in Dubai received A+ rating in the inspections conducted during nine months of this year, showing increased hygiene awareness.
Sultan Ali Al Tahir, head of food inspection section at the Dubai Municipality, said the figures show a huge difference for Dubai compared to the previous years. "Only 443 food outlets had qualified for the prestigious A+ rating during 2016," he said.
During the visits, the municipality had closed down 124 food outlets temporarily due to their high-risk violations. The municipality allowed a large number of them to re-start the work after meeting the technical specifications and hygiene requirements and fully complying with the food safety rules and regulations.
He said an increased number of temporary closure orders were monitored during the summer months, due to high temperatures, which negatively affect the safety of food.
During the nine months, the inspection teams conducted 26,285 visits to ensure that the food outlets comply with the food safety rules and regulations of the municipality.
Al Tahir said that the high risk establishments represented hotels and big restaurants with large quantities of food preparation. "The increased number of excellent rating was the result of the implementation of strategic food safety programmes for the food establishments in the emirate and their adherence to our procedures to raise the hygiene and technical standards to reach this advanced level, most notably the application of HACCP risk analysis system in all hotels, catering companies, and increasing their effectiveness," he said.
"This system targets the risks related to the food chain from raw materials to the consumer table," said Al Tahir. "As for the low-level establishments, we applied the Intelligent Inspection Program, which was designed to identify, figure out and analyse the technical and hygiene risks. This has contributed significantly in raising the level of evaluation of the food establishments," he said.
Follow-up visits, he said, were carried out to raise technical and hygienic standards of the low-ranking establishments in addition to random visits.
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