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Food safety managers must in school canteens

DUBAI - School canteens in Dubai will have to assign food safety managers known as Person-In-Charge or PIC, as per a new Dubai Municipality requirement aimed at enhancing safety and hygiene of food served to school children.

The civic body’s Food Control Department has asked all schools running canteens on their premises to have PICs, a senior official told Khaleej Times.

Sultan Ali Al Tahir, who heads the Food Inspection Section of the department, said the new rule was conveyed to all schools during a recently run campaign to update them about the new guidelines for health and nutritional practices in canteens.

The comprehensive guidelines drafted by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Dubai Municipality (DM) earlier this year had banned all junk food items in school canteens as part of an overhaul of the school health policy. The move is aimed at reducing the incidence of childhood obesity and diabetes in children caused by over consumption of fatty and sugary food and inadequate physical activities.

The municipality had also made it mandatory for catering companies and canteen operators to secure a special approval for the nutritional value of their products sold to students.

According to Al Tahir, the new requirement of PICs in school canteens is to avoid any food safety concerns in canteens in future. “Each school canteen should have at least one PIC. The PIC can be chosen from the side of the school management or the canteen management. It’s better if schools choose PICs from their side. That way they can know better about the state of affairs in the canteens,” he noted.

The municipality has already made it mandatory for all food outlets in Dubai to have PICs from January 2012.

The main job of a PIC is to conduct self-inspections in the outlet, and have better coordination with the Food Control Department and its inspectors.

Other major tasks include offering food safety training to other staff, receive reports of complaints related to food from consumers, and ensure that corrective measures are taken in case of any violations. The PICs in canteens are expected to be given the charge of ensuring the implementation of the nutritional guidelines as well.

Al Tahir said the municipality has not spelt out any deadline for the implementation of the new rule as it is different from that in the food sector. “But, eventually, all companies running school canteens will have to have PICs before they renew their permits next time,” he said.

“Also, we need parents to be alert about the safety of food they give to children. They should be aware of the safe packaging of the food and the right types of foods for children. They should not leave food outside for long and should neither let children do that,” he noted.

sajila@khaleejtimes.com