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In accordance with its regulatory role and responsibility to achieve the highest levels of food safety in Abu Dhabi, The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) carried out 149,401 inspection visits to food, agricultural, animal and veterinary facilities during the third quarter of 2021. Inspections were conducted in Abu Dhabi at 17456 food, agricultural, and veterinary establishments, as well as feed and food factories, 15,900 animal production farms, and 385 livestock barns.

Visits by inspectors from the Authority's control sector can have varied purposes, from routine inspections to monitor and correct malpractice through approved procedures to follow-up visits to verify the facility's commitment to the correction of malpractice to visits to follow up on administrative orders.

As part of its commitment to implement precautionary measures for the prevention of covid-19 virus, the Authority carried out 125,796 visits during the third quarter of this year to ensure that food, agricultural and veterinary facilities are committed to the generality issued on the application of precautionary measures, including 8,340 visits by volunteers from the Authority's staff,  compared to 117,456 visits carried out by inspectors in the authority's control sector.

The Authority, in cooperation with the Emergency Operations Center, works to address the challenges posed by the covid-19 circulars by helping food establishments, fish markets, and food factories to apply them more flexibly, as well as to continue performing its role to support the supply chain, In the past few months, the Authority and Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Center for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi have proposed some solutions to meet these challenges, such as Re-running the night auction in the Mena Port market, the periodical examinations for factory workers, and ensuring the compliance of restaurants and cafes with the implementation of the Green Pass Protocol by raising awareness of the targeted facilities, sending text messages and field inspection visits

The authority has also worked on developing and improving the mechanism for dealing with food, agricultural and animal establishments that have an infection with Covid-19, by stopping the total closure of facilities that have an infection and only partial closure of the department in which the infection was found or sterilizing the facility only for large facilities such as Hyper Market, where previously was completely closed.

In coordination with the Abu Dhabi Department of Health, the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority worked to speed up the response to requests for the total reopening of the closed facility in a maximum period of 12 hours instead of 24 hours. The infected and those in contact only instead of submitting a list of all workers in the facility, which includes detailed data in this regard, which saved effort and time for the facilities and the Health Department to study the reopening request.

The inspection visits aim to tighten control over all food, agricultural and animal establishments, ensure their compliance with the regulations and legislation issued in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and verify their efficiency in meeting the food needs of the community according to the best food safety standards, in addition to improving their work systems and encouraging them to follow the best standards necessary for the development of sustainable development in the field Agriculture and food safety, and the protection of plant and animal health in a way that contributes to enhancing food security and optimal use of natural resources.

The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority is keen to launch several awareness campaigns for all segments of society, and the authority continues its awareness efforts through its official accounts on social media to raise the level of community awareness of the best correct nutritional practices, safe food handling and reduction of waste operations

The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority calls on the public to communicate with it and report any violations that are monitored in any food, agricultural or animal facility by calling the toll-free number for the Abu Dhabi government 800555, where the Authority's Customer Happiness Team deals with the reports and takes the necessary action, to ensure safe food arrives and safe for all members of society in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.