Get your house help trained on food safety in Sharjah

Sharjah - Civic body encourages more households to participate.

Residents of the emirate are urged to register their house help in Sharjah Municipality's annual training on food safety.
The municipality, through its Sharjah Food Safety Programme (SFSP), has been training workers of restaurants and cafés since 2011. Last year, it covered 4,700 food establishments and 46,652 workers were trained by 210 instructors.
For this year, the civic body is looking at encouraging more households to participate by sending their helpers to the training sessions, which focus on the measures that must be observed while handling, preparing and storing food. Hygienic practices will also be tackled to keep families and communities safe from food poisoning.
Shaza Al Mulla, director of public health department and central food laboratory at the Sharjah Municipality, said: "The programme is in its eighth year and has so far brought about a significant positive impact to food safety practices in Sharjah. It is the first of its kind to integrate the 'end-to-end' components of large-scale food safety implementation and manage them within an over-arching programme structure."
Al Mulla said the programme aims to protect public health, align the community's food practices with international standards, and promote a healthy lifestyle.
She said the initiative has been a key factor in achieving the reduction in food safety violations among establishments, 75 per cent of which are found to be complying with regulations. Consumers' trust in food products in Sharjah is at 70 per cent.
Even dealers and managers of food outlets are trained on best practices and provided with technical support.
When the SFSP reaches its second phase, it will be covering food stalls in shopping centres, fast-food chains, three-star hotels, tourist hubs and universities and private schools with large kitchens.
afkarali@khaleejtimes.com

• Sharjah