141 shawarma outlets in Dubai closed

Shawarma meat on a skewer.

The Dubai Municipality has closed down 141 shawarma outlets in Dubai after they failed to abide by the new hygiene requirements recently introduced.

Sultan Ali Al Tahir, Head of Food Inspection Section in the Food Safety Department of Dubai Municipality, said out of the 573 shawarma outlets in Dubai, 425 were found to be compliant with their hygiene rules, while seven were in the process of applying for the requirements.

The municipality had imposed 29 new conditions for the preparation and sale of shawarma in food establishments, giving them six months to improve their conditions, according to the new requirements.

Al Tahir pointed out that the new requirements were imposed after it was observed that some restaurants prepare shawarma in unhealthy conditions and places, in spite of the fact that the shawarma depends on different types of food ingredients, including meat, poultry, vegetables and types of sauces for preparation, all of which require special conditions for storage.

"Many of these outlets do not properly store the components, leaving them at high temperatures, especially when summer is approaching, which contributes to the proliferation of bacteria. Some medium or small restaurants do not have enough space to isolate the ingredients used in the preparation of shawarma sandwiches, and place them near the meat and chicken, which causes the occurrence of cross-contamination between meat and vegetables," noted Al Tahir.

"It requires a complete separation and the allocation of place for the other ingredients such as mayonnaise, garlic sauce and tahina away from meat."

He said the new conditions included the provision of appropriate place and equipment in the restaurant for the preparation of shawarma, as the place for shawarma cooking and preparing should be free of any unhygienic conditions that might interfere with the process.

He explained that the place should be chosen based on the size of the activity and the availability of the necessary requirements such as power supply and water, and the availability of equipment for the management and disposal of waste.

"The shawarma machine and the preparation area should be inside the outlet and not exposed to dust and dirt or any source of external pollution. People working on the processing, preparation and sale of Shawarma must be able to work comfortably at those locations," said Al Tahir.

"The new conditions also include planning of the shawarma making area and the distribution of equipment inside it. The area should be suitable for several main operations. Enough space should be provided to defrost the meat as well as for the preparation of shawarma at various stages, and enough space to store the necessary equipment and tools. Sufficient and effective space should be provided for movement of workers, for using different sizes of tool and raw materials, as well as for waste disposal mechanism," he said.

Al Tahir said that minimum requirements of the area should be provided and determined based on the operations carried out within the outlet, according to the permit issued by the Food Safety Department to each food establishment as generally, the available space should allow for flexible and easy movement of people in those locations.

"Among the conditions are the provisions of adequate refrigerators with suitable sizes to ensure that there is no overcrowding in the food and there is no insufficient cooling. It should also be ensured that adequate equipment is provided to obtain the required temperatures for food during the process of transport, storage, display, preparation and serving.  Sufficient space should be provided between the equipment for easy cleaning periodically," he said.

reporters@khaleejtimes.com