Dubai, 1 May 2019: As part of its commitment to build a happy and sustainable city Dubai Municipality has raised the level of its readiness to welcome the Holy Month of Ramadan through a series of procedures and preparations to enhance confidence in food safety, ensure public health and safety and preserve the beauty of the city.
Inspection Campaigns
Intensive inspection campaigns have been conducted on food warehouses and hypermarkets in the emirate to ensure that they comply with the required specifications, store food in suitable hygienic conditions as well as dairy and cheese factories, and the fruits and vegetables market. The Municipality officials inspected as many as 800 food warehouses. In addition to that the inspectors will visit 500 supermarkets and hypermarkets in Dubai. At the beginning of the month, the campaign will be directed to cooperative societies and big shops to inspect the display and storage of items
The Municipality has allocated a team to follow up the food establishments in Dubai throughout the year, and intensified awareness campaigns on these establishments, in order to reduce the malpractices and violations that may occur, mostly in keeping the right temperature for the preservation of food and not employing a health supervisor. The focus will be on the preparation and temperature control of food and food transportation vehicles, and to ensure compliance with the technical conditions and specifications, in order to protect the consumer health, as well as ensure the safety of ready to eat food during the holy month
Dubai Municipality began the campaign by inspecting 80 food establishments operating in the emirate, including food warehouses where food is being stored in preparation for sale at big food outlets in Ramadan this week, and campaigns will continue on a daily basis during the month.
The campaign has also started on Dubai’s 50 food depots, which contain rice, flour, juices of various kinds and other materials to ensure that the storage is in proper hygienic conditions and is in compliance with the general requirements set by the Municipality.
The food shipments in the current period has been increased, and all of them reach the warehouses in preparation for display in supermarkets and hypermarkets, as well as cooperative societies spread throughout Dubai, and the Municipality will begin the inspection of warehouses a week before the month of Ramadan, and the campaign on 30 big shops that offer these materials will be started only two days before the beginning of the month.
The Municipality inspection will be carried out through daily inspection campaigns to check the storage of food and Ramadan products that are offered by these establishments to consumers to ensure compliance with the requirements and to make sure that they are stored in suitable hygienic conditions. The inspection will be routine and daily during the month at all the establishments.
The Municipality has issued circulars urging the food establishments to apply for the external food display permits issued annually in cooperation with the Roads and Transport Authority. The establishments are required to follow several conditions to display the food and the time to be displayed. It is not allowed to display food throughout the day in Ramadan, as the time has been restricted to two hours before Iftar. During this period, Municipality inspectors visit these establishments to ensure that the hygiene requirements are followed, and check the frequent violations that they have observed over the past years, namely not keeping the right temperature for the preservation of food, the food storage and preparation areas in these restaurants.
That repeated violations include keeping the foods at temperatures below 40 ° C for hot foods, while the required temperatures to display food is at above 60 degrees, because the bacteria proliferate at temperatures below 60 degrees, leading to contamination of foods. Some establishments do not run the refrigerator on the levels required for foods, which leads to damage of food.
The holy month will also witness the preparation and implementation of organized campaigns throughout Ramadan even in the evening until midnight on the establishments that sell consumer products in the emirate, especially high and medium risk establishments such as retail stores and grocery stores and shops specialized in the sale of cosmetics, perfumes, health supplements and toys due to the public interest in shopping and buying these products in the times after Iftar. The Municipality would ensure the circulation of products conforming to the approved health and safety requirements and specifications in addition to follow-up complaints of consumers about the circulation of non-compliant products and take the necessary actions during the same day.
The inspection visits will be intensified by the specialists in the Municipality on the places designated for smoking and shisha, which have been licensed in advance to ensure their compliance with the terms and conditions related to smoking and the provision of shisha service throughout the evening after Iftar, especially the isolation of non-smoking areas from smokers’ area and providing approved suitable area, and ensuring the absence of children or persons under the age of 18 years in the places of smokers.
In the last week of the holy month of Ramadan, an inspection campaign will be held on men’s and women’s salons and children’s salons to ensure that they meet the health and safety requirements due to the increased demand for these places from all the citizens and residents in preparation for Eid Al Fitr, where the focus is on high-risk violations such as hygiene and personal cleanliness of employees and adhering to the steps provided for cleaning and sterilization and the use of disposable tools as healthy alternatives to customers.
The supervisory staff shall also cover the complaints of the customers received through the Municipality Call Center on the toll-free number 800900 as well as the Dubai 24/7 App as the necessary corrective measures are taken by the inspection staff regarding such communications up to 48 hours from the date of receipt.
In order to achieve the highest levels of satisfaction and happiness through expanding the time to provide the service of releasing shipments of imported consumer products across the various ports of the emirate the Municipality will make it through two morning and evening shifts to suit the working hours of the relevant trading companies and logistics clearance companies in the holy month and take the necessary actions on the same day, which contributes to the achievement of high indicators of satisfaction for customers and thus enhance the economy of the Emirate through this important aspect in coordination with Dubai Customs.
Supervision of Ramadan tents
In addition to that the Municipality will supervise the temporary Ramadan tents, which witness a large turnout of the public during the month to ensure compliance with the health and safety controls and requirements and direct closure in case of violation and non-compliance with these conditions.
In order to maintain public health and safety, the Municipality has formulated a plan for the implementation of the “Pest-free tents” campaign in the holy month of Ramadan in coordination with the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities in Dubai, which aims to limit the number of Ramadan tents in the Emirate.
There will be daily program to control the pests that may appear in or around the tents in order to ensure a comfortable environment, free of insects during the Iftar period to ensure the convenience of people who break their fast, and to achieve the highest standards of health and safety. An integrated plan is drawn to carry out pest control operations in the early morning for all Ramadan tents during the month of Ramadan throughout the Emirate of Dubai, and this campaign reflects Dubai Municipality’s keenness to make lives of all people who live in the city.
The Special Ramadan Tents Campaign aims to provide comfort to the frequenters of all Ramadan tents and to achieve a healthy environment free from any inconveniences or infectious diseases, especially during the Iftar period in Ramadan tents due to increased waste and consumption of food in this holy month.
The inspectors will focus on the display and preparation of food in Ramadan tents and on food distributed in mosques and charity tents across the emirate. Five-star hotels do not commit the same offenses as small restaurants, as they follow a special system to prepare, serve and store foods making sure they are safe.
Supervision of Abattoirs
In addition, all preparations have been completed for the development and modernization of the smart abattoirs where the animal for slaughter is selected from Australian cattle easily through the Al Mawashi App without the physical presence of the customer at the abattoirs and activating the slaughtering service through the App in Al Qusais and Al Quoz Abattoirs.
All preventive and corrective maintenance of all abattoirs have been completed in order to maintain public health and encourage slaughter in the abattoir and reduce the phenomenon of random slaughter outside abattoirs by wandering butchers. Recently a public awareness program was conducted on the importance of slaughter inside the abattoirs and not approaching wandering butchers, which contributes to the transmission of diseases and the spread of epidemics. The campaign will continue through social media and radio ads to educate members of the community throughout the month of Ramadan, as this phenomenon poses high risk to the health and safety of members of the community and the pollution of the environment.
The Municipality has started several initiatives to improve the quality of its services to the residents of the community, both citizens and residents. Recently, the Lisaili Abattoir was opened in the area near the Camel Market to serve members of the community in the Lisaili and Margham area. It has a capacity of slaughtering 20 large cattle per hour and 120 small livestock per hour. Maintenance of all slaughterhouses and refrigerators in the Qusais Abattoir was also done recently.
Public Awareness Programs on cleanliness
Dubai Municipality has also intensified its supervisory efforts, increased the number of cleaning vehicles and equipment, marketed its free services and disseminated awareness messages to the public to maintain cleanliness at the highest level in the emirate by allocating 2,178 workers to follow up the cleaning work around the clock in all areas of the Emirate. During the holy month of Ramadan 241 additional waste bins are provided to cover the sites of Ramadan tents in the residential areas and the most crowded areas.
In addition, a field team will be provided to follow up on emergency communications, consisting of 65 cleaners and 15 supervisors, and organizing awareness programs for shoppers to raise awareness about the importance of smart shopping, waste reduction and the use of eco-bags in shopping malls.
The program for the removal of abandoned vehicles and equipment will be conducted from 6 am to 12 pm. The waste disposal team will start their work from 5 am and will continue until 11 am. The team overseeing the cleanliness of public health facilities in the Emirate will have four shifts and the teams will intensify their efforts during the holy month of Ramadan to cover the cleanliness of water canals and beaches, including Dubai Creek, Al Jaddaf, Business Bay Canal, Dubai Water Canal, Deira Harbor Canal, and surrounding waterways and beaches. The working hours will start from 5 am and will continue up to 11 am, and a specialized team will be provided to monitor the cleanliness of the beaches of Dubai around the clock by four shifts. The Municipality will also provide 143 cleaners and 18 supervisors to cover the cleaning of a total of 1,572 km long main roads in the Emirate.
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