Shawarma sanction for 141 shops
425 food outlets meet authorities’ new hygiene requirements after 113 others were banned in November’s crackdown
DUBAI // More than 140 food shops have been banned from selling shawarma as part of an ongoing crackdown on poor hygiene practices.
Last November, 113 shops had to stop selling the popular Arabic street food because they were unable to meet authorities’ new hygiene requirements.
Restaurants and cafes are no longer allowed to keep serving stands outside because dust and sand can be blown on to shawarma meat.
Food inspectors said there had to be greater awareness about cross-contamination between uncooked meat and salad that are often kept close together.
Sultan Al Tahir, Dubai Municipality’s head of food inspection, said that of the 573 shawarma outlets told to meet the new requirements last year, 425 have done so.
Seven shops were still making changes, but 141 shops did not comply.
Inspections revealed that some establishment were preparing shawarma – the ingredients include meat, vegetables and sauces – in unhygienic conditions.
“Many of these outlets do not properly store the ingredients, leaving them at high temperatures, especially when summer is approaching, which contributes to the proliferation of bacteria,” said Mr Al Tahir.
“Some medium-sized or small restaurants do not have enough space to isolate the ingredients used in the preparation of shawarma sandwiches, and place them near the meat and chicken, which causes cross-contamina- tion between meat and vegetables. It requires a complete separation and place for other ingredients such as mayonnaise, garlic sauce and tahina away from meat.”
Most of the offending shops were in old Dubai and their lack of space was the main problem, said Mr Al Tahir.
“We haven’t seen horrendous unhygienic circumstances, such as roaches or rodents,” he said. “Enough space should be provided to defrost the meat as well as for the preparation of shawarma at various stages, and enough space to store the necessary equipment and tools.
“Among the conditions are the provision of adequate refrigerators with suitable sizes to ensure there is no overcrowding of food and that cooling is sufficient.
“It should also be ensured that adequate equipment is provided to obtain the required temperatures for food during the process of transport, storage, display, preparation and serving.”