Qatar has the lowest incidence of food poisoning in the region with only 50 cases reported last year. And majority of food poisoning cases in Qatar are reported due to lack of standards in food storage and wrong approach by the restaurants and food handlers, a senior official of the Ministry of Public Health said yesterday.
The ministry is working on a plan to respond in case of a food poisoning incident or outbreak in the country. It is also planning to propose new laws to the cabinet related to public health and food safety in the coming two years, said Dr Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani, Director of Public Health at the Ministry.
“Qatar is one of the countries in the world with few incidents of food poisoning . A recent report on quality of health systems has said that Qatar has the lowest food poisoning incidents in the region which is followed by the UAE,” he said speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on food safety at the Doha Sheraton.
“Qatar is keen to have zero tolerance for deaths from food poisoning and to reduce the number of food poisoning incidence. We have a strong food monitoring system at places like restaurants, shops and labour camps.
But in case if something happens we have to be prepared to handle the situation. So through training programs we are building our capacity. We find ways on how to quickly respond to any food poisoning incident or outbreak and to reduce the suffering of patients during the treatment processes. We are aiming to have a very safe country from food poisoning as we prepare for 2022 World Cup, where many people will be visiting the country,” he added.
Strong monitoring system for food safety
Majority of food poisoning cases in Qatar are reported due to lack of standards in food storage and wrong approach by the restaurants and food handlers. “We have laws and a strong monitoring system to make sure that food coming to Qatar is safe. But what we see is that 99 percent of cases of food poisoning happens not because of the standards of imported food but due to wrong methods of storage and approach by the restaurant employees and food handlers,” said Dr Al Thani.
The four-day workshop is being held for staff at the Ministry of Public Health involved in food safety. Training sessions on effective food safety measures are provided by ‘RMK-the experts’ one of the training and consultancy providers in the Middle East region.
An estimate of 660 million food poisoning cases and 420 deaths were reported globally every year. Among the deaths one third are children below the age of five years. But Qatar has only 50 cases of food poisoning reported last year, said Dr Hamad Al Rumaihi, Director, Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control Department at the Ministry.
“Every food poisoning case is reported to the Ministry. Last year around 50 incidents were reported. One of our priorities for 2017 is food safety, and we are working together with municipalities. We respond to any incident and increase awareness among food handlers as well as the public,” he said. “Although municipalities do their routine inspections at food outlets, restaurants and labour camps, we have a special joint team to respond immediately on any complaint or incident. Food safety teams will go to the premises, collect samples and send to the central food laboratory to check. In case of a food violation the law allows us to close the restaurant.” he added.
