Nearly 3,000 Dubai food outlets rated 'excellent'

As many as 2,997 high-risk food establishments in Dubai have received A+ and A ratings, a top official has said.
Sultan Ali Al Tahir, head of food inspection section off the food safety department at Dubai Municipality, said: "Almost 3,000 food establishments getting the 'Excellent' rating is a huge difference for the city of Dubai compared to the previous years.
"The increased number was the result of the implementation of strategic food safety programmes for the food establishments in the emirate, most notably the application of HACCP risk analysis system. This system targets the risks related to the food chain from raw materials to the consumer table.
"The intensive efforts of the food inspection teams have brought these positive results, which is quite relevant in the context of the municipality's vision and the Dubai 2021 Plan."
Al Tahir added that the inspection teams conducted 32,000 visits in 2017 to ensure that the food outlets comply with the food safety rules of the municipality.
"During the visits the municipality had also closed down 158 food outlets temporarily due to their high-risk violations. The municipality allowed a large number of them to re-open after meeting the specific requirements and fully complying with the food safety rules. However, a sharp decrease was noticed in the number of closures with the beginning of the winter months."
The smart inspection programme introduced for the low-level establishments has positively reflected on the rest of the outlets' evaluation.
"According to the statistics, a significant increase has been noticed in the evaluation of food outlets with Very Good Rating (B). A total of 5,705 high-risk food establishments such as restaurants and cafeterias received this rating.
"A total of 4,107 food establishments have received Good Rating (C), which confirms the success of the implementation of our smart inspection strategy, in addition to the hygiene supervisor programme. It was also noticed that the establishments with E Rating has come down significantly."
Out of the 32,000 inspection visits conducted last year, 19,690 were routine visits based on pre-scheduled programmes using the smart inspection strategy said Al Tahir.
"Many follow-up visits were also carried out by the section to focus on the low-ranking establishments. We conducted 3,686 such follow up visits last year, in addition to 1,693 random visits," he added.
Al Tahir explained that the employees in the section respond to public complaints received through the municipality's call center toll-free number 800900, which is open 24 hours a day,.
"Our overall response rate for public communications was 100%," he said adding that the section conducted 3,627 such visits last year with an average 10 reports per day.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Dubai