Abu Dhabi restaurant shut down for ignoring repeated warnings, authority says

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority has ordered the closure of Al Tazaj Fakieh Grilled Chicken, a restaurant in the Hamdan Centre building along Hamdan Bin Mohammad Street, for repeated violation of food safety rules.

The restaurant maintained poor hygiene standards which threatened public health, a senior official of Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) told Gulf News on Sunday.

Mohammad Jalal Al Reyaysa, Director of Communication and Community Service at ADFCA, detailed some of the violations committed by the restaurant. For one, he said that the food handlers were not wearing gloves and head caps despite repeated warnings.

He added that the restaurant did not comply with the mandatory requirements of the Essential Food Safety Training programme (EFST) certificate, for training its food handlers. Currently, only 40-60 per cent of staff at food establishments are required to be trained and certified.

The authority said it will make it mandatory for all staff to be trained and certified by next year.

Al Reyaysa said that the extreme step — to close down the restaurant — was taken after the establishment continued to flout rules despite repeated warnings.

The first warning was issued on January 30, the second on March 10 and the third on March 30.

During the fourth visit on April 14, the inspectors noted that the restaurant had not taken any efforts to rectify the violations, he explained. When contacted by Gulf News, the manager in-charge of the restaurant confirmed that the restaurant had been shut down.

He, however, declined to comment further on the issue. The official said that the restaurant can reopen with the permission of the authority after rectifying the violations.

Al Reyaysa added that the authority had decided to disclose the name of the restaurant as part of its policy of ‘naming and shaming errant businesses', which helped improve food safety standards considerably in the emirate.