Dubai: Hypermarkets in Dubai are being encouraged to reduce salt in in-house food products and make changes in display counters to promote healthy food in a new campaign launched by Dubai Municipality.
The Food Safety Department of the municipality is conducting a weeklong campaign through hypermarkets titled ‘Healthy is Easy’ to spread awareness about healthy eating habits.
The campaign is the second phase of the ‘Best Awareness Hypermarket Award’ initiative launched in Ramadan, said Shugufta M. Zubair, senior food safety awareness support officer at the department. “While we focused on food safety in Ramadan in the first phase of the contest, we are focusing on nutrition in the second phase. Points for both phases will be added to determine the winners,” she told Gulf News.
Prominent hypermarket chains are competing to win the overall and individual category awards.
“People have this misconception that healthy food is less tasty and more difficult to make. We have to spread awareness to change this [type of thinking]. Hypermarkets can play a big role in this by putting better healthy food displays, giving special promotions for such products and by holding awareness programmes,” said Zubair.
The objectives of the campaign, she said, are to help reduce the high rate of obesity, especially childhood obesity, in the country and cut down the consumption of salt and saturated and trans fats and promote the consumption of nutritious products.
“In most outlets, unhealthy choices are generally displayed eye-catchingly. So, kids tend to buy them more. We are encouraging hypermarkets to make changes in their displays so kids pay attention not just to chocolates and other unhealthy food items, but also to healthy items.”
Zubair said some participating outlets are even making structural changes to their food display shelves.
Salt reduction strategy
Another major aspect of the campaign is reducing the salt content in bakery and other in-house food products.
The UAE’s health ministry is currently working with various entities including the municipality to come up with laws that will restrict the amount of trans fats and salt content in packaged foods. The time frame for the new regulations in this regard is not immediately known. However, Dubai Municipality is preparing the food sector and consumers for the changes, said Zubair.
“When the new regulations come into effect, both parties won’t be shocked and they will realise the importance of the change.”
Currently, UAE residents consume double or triple the recommended dietary allowance of sodium, leading to a high prevalence of hypertension, said Zubair.
“Salt reduction in bakery items will help create public awareness. People will understand that lowering salt in homemade foods is not just enough. These are small steps for a big change.”
Participating outlets are adopting various channels such as social media, flyers, roll-ups, cut-out displays and special events to spread the messages of the campaign.
Challenging task
Representatives of hypermarkets participating in Dubai Municipality’s nutritional awareness campaign said it is a challenging task for them to implement reduction of sodium/salt in food products.
“It is a tough task to implement this by not changing the taste of products. It is a challenge to strike a balance between customer acceptance or satisfaction and business interests,” said Smitha Vijay, quality, health, safety and environment operations manager at Choithrams.
However, the group has already asked its central kitchen chef to come up with a plan to gradually reduce salt in its in-house bakery. The initial focus will be on sandwiches, fried items, and breads. “This can be done over a period of time only, so customers do not feel a sudden change in taste. Gradually, it can be extended to other ready-made items such as biryani, curries etc.”
She added that the group is also providing educational materials to raise awareness levels of consumers about the need for reducing sodium.
Aswaaq hypermarket has started printing the nutritional values of in-house products as a first step towards educating the consumers about the calories they consume, said Fareez Fazal, a food safety inspector with the group.
“We are printing it on our in-house labels, which is not a common practice in Dubai … Salt reduction [in food products] is in our pipeline … But we need to have a wider discussion on this and how it will affect consumers,” he said.
Union Coop is promoting the campaign by conducting live awareness sessions led by experienced nutritionists for customers, said Marwan Walid Mohammad Al Quran from the group’s media team.
“It helps create a direct interaction between customers and nutritionists and enhance customer knowledge ... We are distributing leaflets and displaying posters in our outlets which convey messages related to ‘Sodium and fat reduction techniques: How to choose healthiest food and good buying habits’.”
He said the group is targeting all age groups, including children, by distributing an activity book called ‘SALT AND HEALTH’, and ensuring their participation through takeaways which include nutrition-rich foods.
Hypermarkets are also turning to social media campaigns to promote awareness about nutrition and healthy eating habits, including tips to reduce sodium intake.
