Most groceries fail to upgrade
sharjah — Most of the groceries in Sharjah failed to upgrade their shops according to the new guidelines issued by the Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD) as the deadline is getting close.
The SEDD had asked the groceries to amend and upgrade their shops earlier in the year and gave them one year to implement it. An official at the department said the SEDD expected 95 per cent of the groceries to comply with the regulations by the beginning of 2018. However, only seven of them implemented the rules and followed the directions of the SEDD.
The official said the SEDD is striving to develop the vital sector and wants to add aesthetic value and improve it with advanced technologies and equipment. The new regulations would ensure healthy storage of food, prevent accumulation of goods on the shelves, as well as give a unified visual look to all grocery stores in Sharjah.
The owners of new groceries and those willing to remain in the business have agreed to implement social responsibility of allocating part of the business to support the small business projects of UAE youths, he added.
The official said that the SEDD has printed leaflets and brochures in Arabic and English that will be distributed beginning of December to remind the groceries of the completion of the one-year period to implement the norms.
As part of the regulations, every grocery should have a CCTV camera along with unified signboards that carry the trade name in black and bright letters.
The area of the grocery should not be less than 30 square metres and not more than 99 square metres, which can ensure centralised or split air conditioning system. The shops should have proper cooling system such as steel refrigerators for preserving fruits and vegetables as well as net metal shelves to store 5 gallons of water.
They should provide uniform to all employees working on the premises, the new regulations say. The walls must be free of cracks and painted with white oily paints.
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com