Every Dubai restaurant to have a 'food manager'

Dubai Municipality has made it mandatory for all food establishments operating in the Emirate to appoint a certified Person Incharge (PIC) from 2011.

The new regulation, being introduced for the first time in the country is aimed at improving the quality of service offered by food establishments.

The PIC or the Food Manager will oversee the safety and quality of the food served by such establishments and will also be held responsible for any lapses.

All establishments from major hotels to small cafeterias, and food processing units should appoint such an officer,” a senior Dubai Municipality official said.

"From January 2011, it will be a requirement for all food businesses to have a Person in Charge (PIC) trained and certified in Food Safety. The PIC can be the owner of the business or a designated person, such as a shift leader, chef, kitchen manager or similar individual who is always present and involved in the work site and has direct authority, control or supervision over employees who engage in the storage, preparation, display, or service of foods," said Khalid Mohammed Sharif, Director of Food Control Department in Dubai Municipality.

Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance (HABC), TSI, and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health have been accredited to provide the necessary trainings and will also be responsible for developing training programs along with the Food Control Department and will specially train and certify the trainers who provide PIC training.

Detailing the reasons behind launching such a programme, he said: "Food safety is a critical part of operating a food business. Illnesses resulting from improper food handling and preparation result in unnecessary human suffering and a lot of financial loss."

According to statistics by the World Health organisation, there are about 2.2 million people dying every year due to food borne and water borne diseases of which about 1.9 million are children.

“We do come across food businesses that violate food safety regulations and it is worrying that some businesses do it more often than others and put consumers at risk. In such establishments, owner or managerial control on food safety was found to be very poor. People in managerial role were either not trained well or not involved in enforcing food safety practices in their business," he noted.

According to him many food-trading companies violate regulations while importing food into the country and most of these problems are detected at ports. “Such foods are either rejected at the ports or discarded and this causes huge economical loss to the trader. In 2009, 2.8 million Metric Tonnes of food was imported, and about 0.5 Million Tonnes were rejected at our ports," said Sharif, adding that increased food safety will reduce food borne illnesses and that is what consumers really want.

The training fee will be approximately Dh250 for Level 1 and Dh500 for Level 2. The certificate will be valid for 5 years.

The new rule will help food inspectors communicate with the food business and provide recommended corrective apart from enabling the consumers to report a food complaint to the business.

"The training sessions will start from December 2010. We hope to see that at least one person is trained as a PIC in all food establishments by December 2011. The first step for the industry will be to nominate a person as the PIC and register their names at the Food Control Department. Once the registration is done, the PIC has to attend the training and pass the examination." Sharif added.
 

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