The Dubai Municipality this week launched the second season of the 'Best Awareness Hypermarket Awards' which will evaluate how effective and creative hypermarkets are in educating consumers on the right methods of food storage. They will also be judged on the number of consumers reached in the campaign.

 

Shugufta Zubair, senior food safety awareness support officer at the Dubai Municipality, said the campaign, which will continue until June 19, aims to educate hypermarkets on the correct ways of food storage. "It is a two-way goal: Delivering the right message to consumers as they shop and ensuring the right practices in hypermarkets," said Zubair.

 

She added that poor practices in hypermarkets primarily revolve around time and temperature control. "Wrong practices revolve around not storing frozen items in the right temperature, and hot holding areas where hot food is kept under good temperature control, in addition to expiry dates of some products," said Zubair.

 

The practice extends to consumers as well. Consumers who buy high-risk food (dairy products, meat, salads and sandwiches), must make sure that the food isn't kept in the car for a long time. Those who shop at Dubai's major hypermarkets will see posters and brochures on following the right food shopping and storage practices.

 

"Hot food must be consumed within two hours. If not, make sure you shop at a time where your food will not stay out for two hours," Zubair said. Certain shopping techniques must also be followed. Zubair noted: "Buy your frozen food at the end to avoid melting and cross-contaminating the rest of the products."

 

The campaign will get a second nutrition-related phase in August and hypermarket winners will be announced in November based on their cumulative score in both phases.

 

Hypermarkets have also been asked to come up with good poster designs, and the best one will be used at the municipality's awareness programmes. "We want hypermarkets to become another educational hub for consumers," said Zubair.

 

Consumers will also learn about the municipality's new colour-coded system that gives cards to food outlets depending on the violation. Red cards, for example, indicate the outlet made hazardous violations, while yellow is given for violations that do not directly affect food safety. The outlets that meet the conditions get a Green card.

 

Inspection in Ramadan

 

Sultan Al Taher, head of the food inspection section of the Food Safety Department at the Dubai Municipality, said that eight warehouses and hypermarkets were fined for violating food storage rules, since the beginning of Ramadan.

 

The common violations found in eight among the 86 warehouses and hypermarkets inspected by the municipality included overcrowding in storage, keeping food items out in warm temperatures and placing it on the ground without protection, and the low levels of hygiene. "Some items were affected by the presence of pests such as rodents and insects," said Al Taher.

 

Inspection campaigns started before the holy month, focusing on Ramadan-related products. A total of 85 entities are allowed to sell popular traditional sweets and snacks outside their shops only two hours before Iftar. The food should be kept inside special temperature-controlled cabins, and the adherence level reached 91 per cent.

 

"The important thing they have to adhere to is maintaining the necessary temperature (hot and cold conservation), and food protection from external pollutants," he said.

 

Al Taher added that random inspections are also carried out on food trucks that deliver meals to Ramadan tents in mosques, to ensure the food is under the right temperature. He said over 2,500 meals per day are distributed during Iftar time. "The inspection visits will continue till the end of Ramadan to ensure that storage is done in proper hygienic conditions, conforming to the general health requirements set by the municipality. We will check both food storage and display, to ensure compliance with the requirements," added Al Tahir.