Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Sumaya Saad, Staff Reporter

Dubai Municipality closed 15 food establishments for violating the health requirements it has set for 13,620 food establishments in Dubai.

The municipality indicated that the percentage of committed establishments reached 76%, while the non-compliant establishments reached 24%, and 12% of food establishments obtained excellent evaluation during the inspection rounds.

The municipality pointed to the development of a “food watch” system to facilitate the exchange of information between regulatory authorities, institutions, service providers and consumers with an intelligent system based on risk assessment. Also, it said that the inspection mechanisms and their replication is done according to a system of standards that ensure food safety with distinction and transparency.

The municipality emphasised the necessity to abide by the circular on March 16, by closing all institutions, implementing meal delivery, not selling more than 50 meals per order, and not allowing customers to be in the waiting area.

The municipality also indicated it will intensify the follow up to ensure compliance adding that non-compliant food establishments will be fined.

Using single-use cups and tools when serving food and drinks in establishments provided that they meet the required temperature conditions is stressed by the municipality.

The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection, CCCP, sector in Dubai Economy organised 41 inspection visits last week to major commercial outlets to verify their compliance with the UAE’s precautionary measures, WAM reported. The inspections resulted in nine warnings to the outlets.

Abdul Aziz Al Tannak, Director of Commercial Control Department in CCCP, said, “The inspection team visited the outlets to ensure their compliance with the precautionary measures, including ensuring that employees wore gloves and masks and shoppers maintained social distance, especially at the cash counters and waiting areas.

“They also checked whether the outlets awareness posters on the preventive measures on display and security teams organised shoppers properly to avoid crowding.”