Dubai: Food imports to Dubai rose to 18 per cent in 2011 at 6.7 million tonnes compared to 5.6 million tonnes in 2010 from 151 countries, said Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality.
The civic body licensed 2,202 permanent food establishments last year, in comparison to 2,075 establishments in the previous year, in addition to the license for 1974 temporary institutions, he added.
"This means that the Municipality has to take more efforts to ensure the compliance of all these institutions with applicable conditions in Dubai," said Lootah, while announcing that the Dubai Municipality will host the seventh International Food Safety Conference and the First Middle East Forum of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) on February 21 and 22.
"We are expecting over 1,000 participants from different countries. A host of issues related to food safety will be discussed during the conference and we are expecting that there would be a lot of recommendations that we would be able to use to enhance fppd safety further."
"We will focus on food safty and food borne illnesses, food poisoning etc. It is nevessary for us to see how we can reduce it ," said Khaled Sharif Al Awadi, Director of Food Control Department and Chairman of the Conference Organizing Committee.
He said the civic body has joined hands with the International Association for Food Protection's (IAFP) in the mission to advance food safety worldwide and protect the global food supply.
DIFSC is the biggest and most prestigious international food safety event hosted in the Middle East region that attracts regulators, industry professionals, researchers and students who work in the food safety disciplines.
"There is no doubt that food safety has been the centre of attention in the past year with consumers, especially after the E Coli outbreak in Germany. While tackling current issues, it seems that new and more challenging issues are arriving at our doorstep every day. It has never been important to stay in touch with current and emerging issues, the latest science, to learn new solutions to new and old problems and to meet people and exchange ideas," Khaled said.
The conference will include lectures by some of the world leaders in food safety, symposia, technical sessions, workshops and poster presentations.
More than 50 presentations will be made by eminent speakers from 15 different countries and local government authorities , said Amina Ahmad, Director of Accreditation Department.
