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Dubai residents asked to take pledge to ensure food safety

Municipality launches I Pledge to Food Safety campaign at the 16th edition of DIFSC that explores the future directions

Published: Tue 1 Nov 2022, 11:06 PM

Updated: Wed 2 Nov 2022, 4:02 PM

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An official signs a pledge to handle food safely at the DIFSC in Dubai. — Supplied photo

An official signs a pledge to handle food safely at the DIFSC in Dubai. — Supplied photo

Dubai residents are being asked to take a pledge to handle food safely at homes and offices. The ‘I Pledge to Food Safety’ campaign by the Dubai Municipality (DM) targets homemakers, children, house help and anyone who cooks or handles eatables.

Aiming to reach at least 1 million pledges in the coming months, the municipality will run awareness campaigns in and around public places in Dubai about food safety practices. This was announced at the 16th Dubai International Food Safety Conference (DIFSC) that explores the future directions in food safety and security.

“This is a social campaign in which we want to help people to understand food safety in a simple way,” said Jehaina AlAli, manager of Permits and Applied Nutrition Section at Dubai Municipality. “We will give practical tips on how to ensure that food is safe when handling it and cooking it.”

Sign the Pledge

The aim of the campaign is to ensure that food safety becomes a part of everyone’s daily lives. “We want food safety to be a part of their culture,” said Sultan Al Taher, director of Food Safety Department at Dubai Municipality. “We want people to have safe practices related to food in their daily lives.”

The I Pledge drive is an inclusive effort to spread the word of food safety and ensure compliance. In an age of online shopping, DM officials want to make sure that residents are following all precautions to maintain the safety of food.

The official said the campaign will focus on engaging the youth and committing them to making food safety a part of their culture,” said AlAli. “Since food is such a crucial part of our daily lives, we cannot compromise on food safety in any way.

The general public can take the pledge on www.foodsafetypledge.com. The website will also share general tips on how to maintain food safety. Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri became the first person to sign up for the pledge at the opening ceremony of DIFSC.

The food safety conference brings together more than 3,000 international experts, including 60 specialist speakers to discuss food safety and security.

At the opening ceremony of the DIFSC, Almheiri said the Covid-19 pandemic was a learning experience in spotting the supply chain issues. According to her, since then, the ministry had worked on three primary fronts — boosting domestic production, launching partnerships with exporting nations, and streamlining border crossings.

This year, the conference addresses how to achieve food safety across supply chains using various innovative technology. Using AI, data and metaverse, DM will aim to devise sustainable solutions and develop global food systems.



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