UAE’S FIRST INFANT wATER ‘AL AIN BAMBINI’ LAUNChED
‘Distribution remains a worry’
Dr Hashim Al Nuaimi, director of the Consumer Protection Department at Ministry of Economy, said the local products were grown without any pesticides or chemical fertilisers but still failed to find takers.
“Local products are the priority and base of food security. We have 60,000 local products but not many make it to the market. Local farmers face problems to sell their products. Important issue faced by all the farmers is distribution. We avoid having a middleman or distributor so that the prices remain low and competitive. There are hundreds of hypermarkets in the UAE. The government needs to play a key role in promoting local products.”
Edward Hamod, chief operating ABU DHABI – Food and beverages company Agthia Group launched ‘Al Ain Bambini’ – a bottled drinking water for infants.
Launching the product during SIAL Middle East, Agthia chairman Eng. Dhafer Ayed Al Ahbabi said Al Ain Bambini is an exceptional product that has been produced specifically to help the development of children for a healthy tomorrow. officer, EFI – head of animal feed division at National Holding, said Emirati products have gained recognition in the regional and global markets but it was still a difficult process to market it properly.
“Distribution remains a worrying factor. Local products, if promoted, can do well in market but it is difficult to take on big distributors. Like, eggs from Ukraine are cheaper and chicken from Brazil. There need to be measures to safeguard interest of local producers.
The product supports infant development free of sodium, sulfate fluoride, nitrate and bromate. The water is pH neutral, and contains low minerals content in order not to interfere with baby formula’s high mineral content.
Agthia Group chief executive officer, Eng. Tariq Ahmed Al Wahedi said Al Ain Bambini is the first-ever UAE-made water that has been designed exclusively There are many norms, rules and regulations to follow for local producers but not for importers.”
‘Let’s export local products’
Meanwhile, LuLu Group International managing director Yusuf Ali M.A. said it was a policy at the retail chain to sell more local food products.
“We are concerned about local producers as well as consumers. We promote local products in a big way and have tie-up with local for infants. “Agthia’s commitment to integrating science across the food and beverages sphere resulted in the introduction of Al Ain Bambini. We believe that our children deserve the purest water to support their growth at their very early stages and Al Ain Bambini has been carefully produced to offer nothing but the best.” firms. In the UAE, we get only seasonal food products. In hot summer we won’t get any supply. So, we have to tie-up with other countries and companies, which is how you have seasonal food and vegetables at our hypermarket 365 days of the year.”
Ali said exporting local produce will help solve issues faced by farmers. “Local products are organic and best. Now we are seriously thinking to export local products.”