Abu Dhabi trains hotel, restaurant workers about nutritional information on menus

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC) has launched a series of workshops to train hotel and food establishment workers about nutritional information displayed on menus.

The training programme aims to educate workers at 600 food establishments registered under the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), as part of a larger goal to have these outlets display calories and macronutritional information on menus. The information will then empower customers to make informed decisions about their food choices, thus supporting the ADPHC’s goals to enhance public health.

Informed decisions

“As most people know, eating a high number of calories can lead to weight gain and other health implications. So, being able to identify the number of calories in meals we eat is essential to our health and necessary to sustain a healthy balanced diet and weight. This initiative will provide the community with the tools to make informed decisions when it comes to their food. Not only can they look at the number of calories, which alone are not indicative of how nutritious a meal is, they can also look at macro-nutrients like fats, proteins and carbohydrates,” said Dr Mariam Al Wahedi, manager of community health at the ADPHC.

Guidelines on displaying nutritional information will be governed by ADPHC to ensure uniform application throughout establishments in Abu Dhabi. Backed by educational materials on using the digital food analysis programme, it will guide participating entities to ensure the overarching goals are achieved.

ADPHC will continue empowering all participating establishments through periodic progress meetings, access to digital nutritional analysis software programmes, and training field visits to food establishments.