Dubai Municipality: Food Outlets Lack Safety Specialists

Several food outlets in the emirate have not appointed trained and certified food safety specialists titled Person-in-Charge (PIC) at their facilities, as mandated by the civic authorities since the beginning of the current year.

According to Dubai Municipality’s (DM) new regulation, the specialised person employed at food establishments should ensure that all applied food safety policies and procedures are implemented effectively at the facilities.

The PIC can be the establishment owner or a designated person like shift leader, chef, kitchen manager, having direct authority to actively control the practices. The managerial control on food safety activities will protect public health and reduce food waste.

A top DM official on Tuesday said that many such establishments across the emirate have not yet employed a PIC to update and implement food safety practices outlined by the municipality.

Khalid Mohammad Shareef, director of Food Control Department at the DM, added that many other food outlets have also been found violating public health safety regulations in spite of all the regular inspections carried out by the civic officers.

“Safe and hygienic practices were found to be very poor in many food establishments of the emirate. People in managerial level were either not trained well or not involved in enforcing food safety practices,” he noted.

“Nearly 2,500 employees of food outlets have been trained in advanced food safety practice and regulations, since the law came into effect in January 2011,” he added.

The PICs will have to undergo a mandatory accredited training programme. Different custom-made training programmes have been designed for the PICs from sectors like retail, manufacturing, catering or food trading.

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Tagged Dubai Municipality, Food Control Department, Food safety specialist, Khalid Mohammad Shareef