Dubai: Authorities are urging residents to take extra precautions when ordering high risk food from restaurants and eateries, as the civic body has recorded an increase in the unsafe food handling practice among restaurants and other food establishments.
The Food Control Department at Dubai Municipality has announced that wrong practices in handling temperature of high risk ready to eat food could lead to food poisoning.
“We noticed that some of the food poisoning patients had eaten food products prepared with eggs. Bacteria called Salmonella enteritidis are found in egg in low numbers, and they can multiply quickly in the food and cause illness. If raw eggs are stored in the chiller, the bacteria cannot multiply. But, if eggs are left at a warm temperature, bacteria can multiply easily and reach levels that cannot be destroyed by normal cooking process,” said Asia Al Raeesi, head of food studies and planning section at Dubai Municipality.
She also highlighted the fact that many egg products are not fully cooked because of personal preferences and this increases the risk of infection.
Sultan Al Tahir, head of food inspection section, emphasised that eggs should be stored in refrigerators all along the food chain from the farm until they are cooked.
“In the kitchen, eggs should be broken carefully in a segregated area to prevent contamination of other ready to eat food. Egg products should be cooked well to a minimum temperature of 75 degrees Celsius as per our regulations. Eggs that are stored at ambient temperatures should not be consumed and our inspectors have been instructed to discard eggs that have not been stored or cooked properly,” he said.
