Abu Dhabi: The UAE has decided to set up a new integrated national mechanism for the surveillance and investigation of food related incidents and diseases, it was announced on Thursday.
This new mechanism is expected to tackle food poisoning cases promptly and prevent contaminated foods from being imported to the country more effectively.
The decision was taken at a recent meeting in Dubai to review existing systems to monitor food related incidents and diseases at national level.
Representatives from 17 local and federal institutions attended the meeting at Dubai Municipality.
Khalid Shareef Al Awadi, Director of Food Control Department at Dubai Municipality, said the programme comes as part of the strategic vision of National committee for Food Safety at the Ministry of Environment and Water.
Al Awadi, who is also the member of the National Committee for Food Safety, said Dubai Municipality has been assigned with the new mission to set up a new integrated national system given the track record of its regional system which was established two years ago.
“Now we are to launch an integrated system which will carry out the surveillance and investigations at national level. We will be holding a series of sittings to define the role of each institution and to set the priorities” Al Awadi said.
As part of the mechanism, Dubai Municipality is preparing a handbook as a first step, of which first part will target the hospitals and the second will benefit environment inspectors. This may help hospitals to tackle food poisoning cases more effectively.
Since the UAE imports food items from more than 100 countries across the globe, a food-borne disease in any of those foreign countries will have an impact on the UAE population. The Ministry of Environment and Water constantly monitors imported food and orders to remove any suspicious food items from the markets. As the new national mechanism offers surveillance of food related incidents, better measures may be taken to stop contaminated food from entering the country.
Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) which is responsible for the food safety in Abu Dhabi emirate said as a member of the National Committee for Food Safety, it will extend its cooperation and support to the new national mechanism. “As part of the new mechanism, we will share our expertise and knowledge with the stakeholders in the new mechanism,” a senior official told Gulf News yesterday.
“We will extend our support for the coordination of all food safety and civic authorities across the country for this purpose,” Mohammad Jalal Al Reyaysa, Director of Communication and Community Services at ADFCA, said.
He said ADFCA has a scientific committee with experts from developed countries as its members.
“We have been successfully utilising their expertise at the international arena in building a foolproof mechanism to ensure food safety in the emirate. We are always ready to share that experience with other authorities and civic bodies,” he said.
In Abu Dhabi, ADFCA and Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has been successfully working together to deal with food-borne incidents and diseases under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two authorities, he said.
Al Reyaysa said the National Committee for Food Safety in the Ministry of Environment and Water has been effectively working and the new mechanism will strengthen its functions.
The committee was established when the General Secretariat of Municipalities ceased to exit, which was the regulatory body for food safety across the country.
This change occurred as the Ministry took over the functions of the General Secretariat of Municipalities. Now the ministry acts as the umbrella- body of all municipalities and food safety authorities across the country.
