E-coli tightens food imports

The recent E-coli outbreak that has killed more than 50 people in Europe this year, has taken every food department officials around the world by sheer surprise. Now, Dubai is enforcing tougher food safety rules. Dubai Municipality monitors food safety standards and conducts inspections at the food businesses throughout the emirate to help prevent food related problems from occurring. Dubai Municipality's Food Control Department's latest report lays the groundwork for potential laws and policies to assure food safety in the emirate. Dubai imported 85 per cent of its food, almost 5.7 million tonnes from 163 countries. Because the UAE, and Dubai in particular, depend on imported goods to a large extent, the logical way to control food is not to wait until it comes here, but to control it at the farm at the source," said Bashir Hassan Yousif, the Food Safety expert at the municipality. The new report which is now being distributed to food control authorities, consulates and companies, highlights the challenges facing Dubai, including collaboration between federal and local authorities, changes in consumer habits, protecting consumers from different contaminants and publicizing the results of inspection visits. "We will use the report for drafting strategies to control imported foods and even food which is locally manufactured," Mr Yousif said. "We not only concentrate on the amount of import but link it to the type of food and contaminants, and whether or not they are significant." The Food Control Department rejected a little more than 432,000 tonnes of food last year, up 5.7 per cent from 2009. Officials attributed it to a stricter attitude.