Four products banned for pork content

Sharjah Municipality has banned the import of a number of meat and poultry brands for containing pork fat.

The authorities said the move aimed at safeguarding consumers from unwittingly ingesting lard contained in the banned products.

The municipality said it had also ordered pulling out the contaminated products already on supermarket shelves, even as it continues to survey the souqs in the emirate, sources said.

The four products are Al Wataniya Smoked Chicken Franks, Americana Smoked Chicken Franks, Americana Super Shish Kabab, all naming Saudi Arabia as the 'country of origin'; and Cooked Beef Canne Norte, reportedly having an 'Argentina' trademark, but without specifying any country of origin.

The move follows a decision taken by the General Secretariat of the UAE Municipalities to withdraw four contaminated meat and poultry brands, and to take preventive measures.

Jasim Darwish, general secretary of the umbrella civic body in the UAE, had issued the notification on April 10 and ordered it be circulated to all municipal authorities.

The General Secretariat's decision was taken following reports filed earlier by the Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Fujairah municipalities about the pork fat contamination.

Meanwhile, Sharjah Munici-pality issued 15 warnings last month to foodstuff producers and importers for dealing in products violating one or more criteria requirements.

Some 936 imported samples were collected from the local market and foodstuff factories for testing, with 8.6 per cent proving invalid for human consumption, leading to the warnings.

The violations included microbial or chemical contamination, change in their general characteristics, improper packing, carrying multiple expiry dates, incorrect Arabic translation of product specifications or not carrying specifications in Arabic or English, and alcohol and pork contamination.

The product categories included milk and dairy products, bottled water, refreshments, cooking oil and fats, sweets, soups, salads, cereals and poultry.

In Fujairah, a spokesman for the municipality said food inspectors had withdrawn all chicken products specified in the federation's memorandum distributed two days ago to all municipalities in the UAE.

Mohammed Rashid Al Yemahi, Director of the Public Health and Environment Department, said inspectors checked supermarkets and groceries and withdrew all chicken products made by a Saudi Arabian food company.

"After being informed about the products by two laboratories of two other emirates, we took samples and tested them at our Food and Environment Control Laboratory. The samples were contaminated with pork products," said Al Yemahi.

"Nobody suspected these chicken products when they were imported or distributed to the local markets simply because they have a very well-known and trusted brand name and because they were manufactured in a Muslim country," he added.

Al Yemahi pointed out that they received a formal statement from the General Secretariat of the UAE Municipalities concerning withdrawing the products.

"We withdrew all the stock in the market and destroyed them last week," he added.