ABU DHABI —Avoid cross-contamination of raw foodstuff with ready-to-eat items while carrying them home in bags after shopping, which could lead to numerous health concerns, the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) advised consumers.
The advisory was issued as the authority launched its ‘Smart Shopper’ campaign on Wednesday to educate consumers on the safest food shopping practices, encouraging and motivating them to follow these practices.
It also urged shoppers to separate fruits from detergents, check for expiry and production dates of the products, and read labels properly before buying canned food.
The campaign will shed light on some negative consumer behavioural patterns when shopping for food and ways to improve them. The ADFCA will educate consumers about these through radio and print advertisements as well.
Mouza Al Muhairi, Executive Director of the Food Safety Sector at the authority, said the campaign aims to educate consumers regarding the most important safe shopping practices and how to go about them when shopping for food. It also highlights the diseases associated with wrong food handling.
“We hope this campaign will achieve its objectives by promoting consumers’ awareness on safest practices. We aim to achieve this through a comparative approach that shows the safest and wrong practices,” she said.
Mohamed Abdulla Al Fardan, Deputy Director, Communication and Community Service Sector, said, “We will be reaching out to consumers through radio and print advertisements, in addition to flyers to be handed to consumers directly at all popular supermarkets in the emirate. The messages will include awareness to encourage people to follow the right shopping approach whilst avoiding negative consequences.”
The sector is responsible for monitoring all aspects of food safety in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. It monitors food establishments on the basis of risk assessments while it regulates agriculture by bringing the farming practices in line with international best practices (in commercially run farms and animal production firms), Al Fardan said.
The responsibilities of the sector also encompass the implementation of approved measures for containing food safety-related crises and resultant diseases in coordination with internal and external agencies. It also enforces the recall of food products found defective.
The sector also conducts laboratory tests (physical, chemical, radiological and micro-biological) for ensuring the safety and quality of foods, in addition to extracting samples for laboratory analyses as per the mechanism adopted by the ADFCA, Al Fardan added.