Ministry intensifies inspection to ensure food safety in Ramadan

THE Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has intensified its inspection campaigns on consumer complexes across the country during the Holy Month of Ramadan to ensure food safety and protect the health of consumers in light of high temperatures causing the rapid contamination of food.

The ministry prepared an integrated plan for the inspection of consumer complexes. The first phase of the plan included inspections carried out by the health inspectors of the Department of Food Safety and Environmental Health at 11 consumer outlets to determine their compliance with health requirements.

The second stage covered 64 complexes during the Holy Month of Ramadan, including visits to a number of hypermarket branches in Qatar.

The health surveillance activities of the Ministry of Public Health entail all aspects that may directly or indirectly affect the safety and quality of food supply. All stages of the food chain are inspected -- from the receipt of primary foodstuffs to the stage of the supply of the prepared food.

The inspectors are particularly keen to examine critical points, including the initial preparation stages - cooking, cooling and display of readyto-eat food - and the extent to which the food company is committed to health requirements during the food chain stages. The inspectors focused on assessing the awareness of food traders about the importance of maintaining cleanliness of hands and proper mechanism to ensure hygiene.

The consumer complexes’ leaders were also provided with instructions and recommendations regarding the corrective actions of the violations observed