The death of two children in Dubai has sparked pressure on restaurants and consumers across the emirate to improve food hygiene standards.
According to Emirates Business 24/7, the Dubai Municipality increased the number of inspections of restaurants and other food outlets and launched a food safety awareness campaign named “Food Safety is Our Priority.”
The government’s awareness campaign, executed by Dubai’s Food Control Department, targets students to “spread health awareness among the younger generation,” and especially focuses on educating food employees children. The program also included a workshop teaching children how to properly read labels, even taking them on a trip to the local grocery store to test out their skills.
In addition to targeting youth, the program reached out to adults in shopping malls, and collaborated with other government departments and health centers.
In an effort to promote better food handling among homemakers, the Food Control Department also announced this week that it would provide food safety training sessions for consumers at some leading supermarkets.
The campaign also utilizes text alerts, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs to spread awareness.
“We are launching our biggest-ever awareness campaign during Ramadan. After investigating the reported cases of food poisoning we have found that many people are not aware of the proper ways to deal with food items. So, we have included different categories of the community for the awareness program,” Khalid Sherif Al Awadhi, director of the department told the Khaleej Times, a local daily newspaper.
The Khaleej Times is also helping to boost public awareness with its interactive online food poisoning tool.
