File photo used for representation.
As Eid Al Adha is approaching near, the health control sections of various municipalities have intensified inspection drives on food outlets and abattoirs.
The inspection drives are aimed at enhancing food safety at food outlets and seizing any violation for the Law No. (8) of 1990 on the regulation of human food control. In addition to inspection on food shops; inspection teams have kept their focus on butcheries, shops selling sweets, chocolates and nuts as well as abattoirs.
The inspection drives which began recently have already checked thousands of food facilities. The health control sections at municipalities are sending samples of all foodstuff in general and meat in particular to laboratories in order to ensure food safety.
Speaking to The Peninsula, Majid Burhan Zeidan, Head of Health Control Section at Al Rayyan Municipality, said that the municipality had conducted inspection drives on over 5,000 food facilities in preparation for Eid Al Adha.
About the number of violations detected by the municipality so far, Zeidan said that the municipality had caught 10 violations, some of them related to expiry date and other regarding hygiene.
“During 15 inspection drives, we have conducted on occasion of Eid Al Adha, we shut down only one food outlet for two months,” he said.
A number of municipalities, such as Al Shahaniya have also announced providing a veterinary supervision for slaughtering during the period from the first day of Eid Al Adha to the fourth day and from 5am to 5pm at Al Shahaniya mobile abattoirs, in coordination with Widam Food Company.
Al Daayen Municipality also carried out an intensive inspection campaign on shops selling sweets and nuts, in order to enhance food safety and to protect the health of citizens and residents.
The municipality prepared a plan to enhance monitoring on butcheries, restaurants, cafeterias, bakeries, with an aim to follow up the compliance by of health regulations.
The municipalities have advised citizens to slaughter the sacrificial animals at the designated places. People have to avoid slaughter at their homes or at butchers who have no experience and cannot play the role of a veterinary doctors to make sure the slaughter is free of diseases.
The Ministry of Municipality and Environment said that animals slaughtered at abattoirs will ensure the safety of meat as abattoirs have veterinary doctors to check animals.