Dubai to ensure nutritional claims by eateries

Dubai - Dubai eateries will have to prove the nutrition-related claims in their menus when the new regulations will be in place.

Ever doubted if a 'healthy meal' offered at a Dubai eatery is really healthy, if the so-called 'diet food' will actually work or even the organic fruits and vegetables you buy are purely organic?
Well, Dubai residents will soon be able to verify such claims of nutritional values of the food they consume, thanks to new rules in the pipeline.
The Dubai Municipality is planning new regulations to ensure the nutritional value claims of food served to residents and visitors. Dubai eateries will have to prove the nutrition-related claims in their menus when the new regulations will be in place. Food products will also come under scrutiny.
What more, eateries will also have to specify the contents and the calories of their dishes in the future phases of the nutrition regulation programmes being chalked out by the Food Control Department of the civic body.
The guidelines and rules for nutritious food will be drafted by a new section on nutrition added to the department that has been recently revamped and renamed as 'Food Safety Department,' officials said at a Press conference held on Wednesday to announce the details of the 10th Dubai International Food Safety Conference.
Hussain Lootah Director-General of Dubai Municipality said the civic body has constituted the new section on nutrition to expand the scope of its work on public health. The new approach of advocating healthy food is also aimed at tackling lifestyle diseases and disorders related to food habits such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
The Director of the Food Safety Department, Khalid Mohammed Sharif Al Awadhi, said the department will start a survey by the end of the year to pave the way for the new rules being planned.
"We have changed the approach to food control. Along with food safety, we also need to look at the nutritional aspect," said Al Awadhi.
"We don't want people to make tall claims, some foods are good for hair, some are good for skin. If any health and nutritional claims are made they have to first prove it to us and get our approval for that."
He said the department will coordinate with the Dubai Health Authority for drafting the new regulations. Al Awadhi said the new rules are expected to be finalised within a year.
Conference highlights
The DIFS Conference will have an Arabic Symposium that includes a seminar on the relation between nutrition and food safety in terms of concept, habits, challenges, health impacts and diseases.
This comes in line with the UAE National Agenda outputs which focus on malnutrition-related illnesses. The symposium will further shed light on how to deal with consumer misconceptions about nutrition and food safety.
There are about 14,000 food establishments in Dubai which include around 8,000 restaurants, cafeterias and coffee shops.
Principle Food Inspector of the municipality Bobby Krishna said the approach to food inspections in all these premises was also being changed. "We are changing the approach of our inspections. The new inspection method will be based on food safety risks and be more transparent."
He said the system of using colour-coded stickers to indicate how the outlets faired in food inspections, which was announced last year, will be implemented after the conference.
Globally, Krishna said, there is always a challenge of a food fraud coming in any part of the food chain. The conference will be held at the Dubai International Convention Centre on October 27 and 28. -sajila@khaleejtimes.com