Abu Dhabi 1st August 2011:  As part of its endevours to help educate consumers on best shopping practices during the Holy Month of Ramadan whilst raising consumers� confidence on the safety of food traded in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority launched the �Smart Shoppers� Campaign.

This initiative (Shop Smart, Stay Healthy) will help educate consumers on the safest food shopping practices, encouraging and motivating them to follow these practices via highlighting the benefits of adopting safe shopping practices. Besides, the campaign highlights some negative consumer behaviors when shopping for food, and how to improve them.

Mr. Mohamed Jalal Al Reyaysa, Communication and Community Service Director at aDFCA, said: �Throughout our previous visits to shopping malls in Abu Dhabi pre and during first days of Ramadan, we have noticed an increase of demand for materials and food commodities in a way exceeding the consumers� need. By doing this, some commodities will have their validity date expired before being consumed, thereby reflecting irresponsible behavior by some consumers who tend to be unable to decide their exact needs.The best shopping practices are very simple steps yet very important. For Example, separating food products from detergents, checking the expiry dates, immediate cooling of raw food, looking out for signs of freshness in fruits and vegetables, reading food labels,  avoiding mixing vegetables with meat products, buying milk and

dairy products and the beginning of your shopping, avoid eating fast food two hours after purchase, keeping chilled food in the open and avoiding mixing raw food with ready- to-eat food to avoid cross contamination.� He added.

ADFCA performs various activities as well to educate food establishments during the Holy Month of Ramadan, including frequent visits to restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores.ADFCA�s inspection campaigns carried out during the Holy Month of Ramadan are also informative campaigns designed to raise public awareness on different ways to buy and store food. During these inspection campaigns, awareness brochures will be  distributed focusing on mechanisms on how to deal with food after you buy it, especially when it comes to transporting food and private storage of frozen food. ADFCA seeks to inform the public on their health and safety of their food.