Dubai: Dubai Municipality is all set to celebrate the GCC Food Safety Week from April 15 to 21 with a wide variety of activities aimed at creating increased awareness among all stakeholders related to food safety.
“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, director of Food Safety Department at Dubai Municipality, said in a press release.
“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,” Al Bastaki pointed out.
She hoped that the municipality’s events this week will have a positive impact as they are targeted at all stakeholders, the food industry, food outlets, regulatory bodies, and above all, the general public.
The series of events, to be organised under the slogan, “Together for Food Safety,” will start with a conference on Food Safety Trends at Meydan Hotel on Saturday. It will be addressed by food safety experts from the municipality. The three sessions of the conference, which will be attended by officials of foodstuff manufacturing companies, hotels, restaurants and other food outlets, will cover highly sensitive issues related to food safety.
The first session on Investigations on Food Poisoning Outbreaks will see participants learning key skills in investigating outbreaks with the help of an actual case study. The second session on Seafood Fraud will look at diverse topics related to seafood fraud including misbranding of fish, measuring sustainability in seafood, and how to prevent fish fraud. The third session on Technology in Food Safety will discuss ways to use data generation, data mining and artificial intelligence for taking food safety to the next level.
On Sunday, the municipality will organise a special food safety awareness programme for its staff at its headquarters. The event, which includes seminars on significant food safety-related issues and an exhibition, will be inaugurated by Hussain Nasser Lootah, director-general of Dubai Municipality, by cutting a ceremonial cake in the presence of Khalid Mohammad Sharif, assistant director-general for Environment, Health and Safety Control Sector and other officials of the municipality.
The seminar will discuss subjects such as How to Eat Healthy at Work, Key Steps to Prevent Food Poisoning while Travelling, Know about Food Allergies, Keeping your Family Food Safe, and Ask the Experts about Food Safety and Nutrition.
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 reach higher 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 municipality’s activities during the GCC Food Safety Week will conclude with a public event at Zabeel Park from 3pm to 7pm on April 21. The public will be engaged in the activities with quiz and interactive educational programmes. Officials will also hand out food safety brochures and giveaways of packed food items for participants.
The municipality has also urged food safety managers of hotels and restaurants to organise food safety events in their establishments involving staff members, customers, and suppliers on the first day of the GCC Food Safety Week and run the activities throughout the week if possible, the release said.
