Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011
Gulf News
Mandatory programme will equip staff at all 9,000 established outlets by next year
Abu Dhabi The Essential Food Safety Training programme (EFST) for food handlers in the emirate, which has improved their performance, will be mandatory by next year, senior officials of Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) told Gulf News yesterday.
Currently, only 40-60 per cent of staff at food establishments are required to be trained and certified. Now, the authority is to make it mandatory by next year, Mohammad Jalal Al Reyaysa, Director of Communication and Community Services at ADFCA, said.
More than 40,000 food handlers in the emirate with over 9,000 food outlets will be given food safety training by the end of 2012, Abdullah Al Junaibi, Acting Executive Director of Food Safety Section at ADFCA, said at a special awareness campaign run by food safety inspectors at Marina Mall in the capital.
“We have already trained 86 per cent of the food handlers and it has considerably improved the performance of food handlers,” he said.
Emphasis on practice
EFST, the first government-led training programme of its kind in the Middle East, has been implemented since August 2008, targeting all food handlers involved in the food chain from preparation, processing, cooking, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution, selling to serving or donating he said. The multi-lingual training (in eight languages) lays more emphasis on practice in four essential areas; cross-contamination, cooking, cleaning and chilling, Al Reyaysa said.
The food outlets in Marina Mall and Khalidiya Mall heaved a sigh of relief yesterday when inspectors who found fault with some of their practices did not issue warning or fines. “Instead we just advised them and guided them as part of the special awareness campaign,” Al Junaibi said.
By Binsal Abdul Kader Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
