Sharjah committee to monitor food poisoning

Sharjah: The municipality will soon form a Food Poisoning Committee in order to prevent food poisoning cases from breaking out in Sharjah.

Atif Abdullah Al Zarouni, Director of Public Health Department, Sharjah Municipality, told Gulf News that the municipality is currently co-ordinating with the Ministry of Health and the Forensic Laboratory of Sharjah Police to launch the committee.

"We are co-ordinating with all the parties so that we can adopt a mechanism among all parties to form a Food Poisoning Committee in Sharjah. Through the new committee, we aim to control such situations [of food poisoning] as soon as possible," said Al Zarouni.

"The Department deals with cases of suspected food poisoning in the most accurate manner. We first conduct an investigation of the type of food intake, then we collect food samples, and finally we review the staff who prepared the food to make sure they are free from diseases and wounds."

He stated that there are more than 7,000 food outlets in Sharjah and that five per cent of them were fined recently, due to the negligence of public or personal hygiene, in addition to failing to adhere to correct health practices when dealing and preparing food products.

In a three-week inspection campaign held in May, three shawarma cafeterias and 1,294 food outlets were temporarily closed because they were operating in areas polluted by vehicle emission and air microbes.

Cafeterias were also found to be selling stale meat that was unfit for human consumption.

"The municipality has intensified its preventive measures to protect food commodities from being contaminated during the summer season, and we are focusing on restaurants and butcher shops," he said, emphasising that inspectors also supervise the sterilisation of fast food meals, vegetables, salads, fruits and other food items.

Al Zarouni pointed out that restaurants and cafeterias should use proper equipment, such as electric knives instead of ordinary knives, and that employees should adhere to the standards of personal hygiene when dealing with food items prior to cooking.

"Food control inspectors do not spare any efforts to educate workers in these areas as we want them to deal with food items in a sound manner."


By Mariam M. Al Serkal, Staff Reporter
Source : Gulf News