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DOHA: In a bid to control violations committed by restaurant chefs, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment is set to make the whole cooking process transparent for customers either through glass walls between dining halls and kitchens of eateries or by using closed-circuit television cameras installed in cooking areas with display screens in dining rooms.
By these measures, the customers of eateries will be able to follow live cooking while waiting for the food in the dining halls of the restaurants.
The move will make the workers (chefs or waiters) act more responsibly due to fear of monitoring by clients as well as it would assure people about the good hygienic quality of food being served, an official at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment told The Peninsula yesterday.
“A proposal in this regard has been sent to the Minister Office which aims to oblige the restaurants of fixing cameras at their kitchen with display screens in dining halls for the customers so that they can see the preparation of food and we are waiting for the Minister’s approval in this regard,” the official added.
He said that the idea was conceived when the municipality officials noticed that the restaurants which had glass walls between eating areas and cooking stations committed lesser violations and fewer complaints were lodged against them by the customers as compared to those eateries where dining halls and kitchens were completely separate.
Regarding inspection campaigns in Ramadan, he said that due to the rush, some outlets especially sweet shops and eateries, may not give proper attention to the health standards and requirements, so the focus will be more on them.
“Round-the-clock inspections will focus on outlets that receive more visitors during the fasting month. We have divided the inspection drives into three phases. In the first phase in the beginning of Ramadan, focus will remain on commercial complexes which sell Ramadan items.
“The second phase will start with special monitoring of sweet and fried fruit shops who make brisk business in the run up to Garangao celebration during the middle of Ramadan while by the end of Ramadan the slaughter houses will remain prime focus of inspection and monitoring, he pointed out.
Regarding Ramadan tents for Iftar, he said there will be a special inspection of them to monitor food preparation, transporting it and how it is served to people, because such tents needed special monitoring as they gather hundreds of people every day.
He stressed that the ignorance of the new employees hired at restaurants about health standards of food safety was the biggest challenge for the municipalities.
“We call for efforts to raise awareness of this category of workers, demanding food establishments to rehabilitate their workers and raise awareness among them about food safety.”
The Ministry official also urged the public to visit shops and supermarkets which see more customers instead of the ones no one visits, and also avoid shopping while being hungry. He also stressed that people must check the products’ expiry date before buying and not to leave it for a longer time in the car.
