53 Dubai food establishments shut, 1,133 warned for violating COVID-19 protocols
Action follows 13,775 inspections by Dubai Municipality in first quarter of 2021
Dubai: Dubai Municipality closed down 53 food establishments and issues warnings to 1,133 others for violating the COVID-19 safety protocols during the first quarter of this year, the civic body revealed on Sunday.
Sultan Ali Al Taher, head of Food Inspection Section at Food Safety Department in the Municipality said that the Municipality officials conducted 13,775 inspection visits to food establishments during the first quarter of 2021, to ensure compliance with the precautionary measures for COVID-19 and the visits confirmed that 12,438 food establishments were complying with the food safety requirements.
While 53 food outlets were closed during the first quarter, 1,133 other establishments were served with warnings, he said.
Major violations
The most prominent violations that were detected were failure to adhere to social distancing, and failure to wear personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves during food preparation, and not using approved sterilisation and disinfection materials.
“The Municipality inspectors check, during their monitoring visits, the daily follow-up records of workers’ hygiene, the sterilisation and disinfection operations, in addition to ensuring that food safety requirements are applied while receiving food items, food preparation, storage, display at safe temperatures, and the application of hygiene and sterilisation procedures, to prevent cross-contamination as well as pest control operations,” added Al Taher.
He said that the Municipality’s inspection teams carry out a number of routine inspection visits, based on the reports received from consumers, and also issue fines on violators.
Inspection campaigns are on in Ramadan to ensure that food establishments meet the requirements for transporting, storing, preparing and displaying food products and materials.