DM launches food safety campaign

Eng. Salem Mesmar, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality on Thursday launched a food safety campaign
under the slogan ‘Pack It Safe… Right Step for Safe Food’ at City Hall of the Municipality’s main building. The
campaign aims at the public awareness on proper use of food contact and packaging material.
Targeting schools, offices and households, Dubai Municipality has partnered with Al Bayader International – the
leading Middle East-based provider of innovative, comprehensive and value-added food packaging solutions – to
provide its expertise in the implementation of the entire campaign.
Divided into three phases, the campaign will continue until October 2011. It includes a series of seminars and
workshops as well as dissemination of essential and vital information on the subject.
“The fast-paced lifestyle of people living in Dubai has drastically changed the way we prepare and store food for
daily consumption at home, for our school-going children as well as in the workplace,” said Salem.
“Inadequate knowledge about the proper use of food packaging material that comes in direct contact with food can
actually pose a threat to the health, safety and well-being of the community.
Khalid Mohammed Sharif, Director of Food Control Department, said that the Municipality is always keen to
participate in such activities in order to spread awareness and ensure community involvement in these events
through useful awareness programmes that are aimed to improve the health of members of the community.
“We launched this food safety campaign In order to provide people with the basic knowledge about various kinds of
food packaging material readily available in the market, and how each material actually interacts with the food or
beverage that one puts in it depending on the application and purpose – whether for storing, freezing or heating,”
he said.
“And, we are indeed glad to have Al Bayader International on board as our partner in this campaign as they provide
us with the necessary knowledge based on years of scientific research, experience and expertise in this field,” he
added.
Al Bayader’s CEO Nidal Haddad said that having been chosen to partner with Dubai Municipality in this campaign is a
reflection of the high standards of our food packaging manufacturing and production processes and systems.
“People often take for granted or simply lack the basic knowledge about the potential impact packaging material
can have on food. What makes matters even more serious is the lack of responsibility of some manufacturers by not
clearly indicating the safe application and purpose of the type of food packaging material.” Nidal said.
“Through our participation in this campaign, we hope to educate everyone involved in the preparation and storage
of food, to use only the right food packaging material for the intended use and purpose,” he explained.
“Consequently , consumers will be more aware of globally accepted food and food packaging safety standards which
we at Al Bayader have been implementing and complying with since our inception,” Haddad remarked.