Kuwait
Inspectors from the ministry’s Consumer Protection department fined the cafe and took immediate measures to close the outlet to prevent the drink being served. Image Credit: Yasmena Al Mulla

Dubai: Kuwait’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry as closed a cafe selling coffee in feeding bottles, Al Anba daily reported.

Inspectors from the ministry’s Consumer Protection department fined the cafe and took immediate measures to close the outlet to prevent the drink being served.

Yesterday, Oman’s Public Authority for Consumer Protection stopped a coffee shop in Buraimi that was serving cold drinks in feeding bottles meant for babies.

Meanwhile in Bahrain, the Industry, Commerce and Tourism Ministry has warned all shops, cafes and restaurants not to serve drinks in feeding bottles, as these practices violate customs of Bahrain.

The ministry posted a video in its Snapchat account showing a campaign against one of the cafes that sold drinks in feeding bottles, saying that after monitoring the market, a decision was made to ban the sale of feeding bottles in cafes.

“This practice violates proper commercial principles and flouts Bahraini customs and traditions,” the ministry said.

In Dubai, after the new trend spread across the emirate’s cafes, authorities have taken swift actions to shut down those offering coffee and other beverages in baby bottles.

The Commercial Compliance & Consumer Protection (CCCP) Sector in Dubai Economy announced on March 6 that the practice has been banned as it is “against local customs and the precautionary measures in place against COVID-19”.

Customers had been bringing their own bottles to cafes to be filled up, but thanks to social media users reporting the practice to Dubai Economy, inspection teams were sent out to investigate and have made the decision to prohibit it.

“Such indiscriminate use of baby bottles is not only against local culture and traditions but mishandling of the bottle during the filling could also contribute to the spread of COVID-19,” said Dubai Economy in a statement.