As part of strengthening strategic partnerships in the efforts to enhance food safety, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority has received a delegation from Ajman Municipality recently and held discussions on ADFCA's experience in enhancing food safety in the catering industry.

The meeting comes as part of efforts rendered by various control authorities in the country to coordinate and support food safety initiatives and systems across the country.

During the meeting, ADFCA's experience in the area of food safety, especially the efforts to support catering services to effectively implement legal requirements related to HACCP-based Food Safety Management systems, was reviewed.

H.E. Dr Mariam Hareb Sultan Al Yousuf, Executive Director of Policy & Regulation Sector delivered a presentation before the visiting delegation in which she detailed about the HACCP for catering initiative, including Salamat Zadna- a guide to safe food handling- launched by ADFCA in October 2013 to support small and independent food establishments- including its development stages, execution phases and the results it brought in so far.

She explained it as a practical food safety management system prepared for small food facilities. The system is developed based on international best practices and framed in tune with the policies and legal atmosphere in UAE and in Abu Dhabi emirate.

It was designed after carrying out in-depth research on local food establishments apart from extensive benchmark studies with several globally- acclaimed best practices in the domain, she said. 

"The Salamat Zadna system brings in many benefits to the food establishments in terms of increase in consumer trust and their acceptance towards services that food establishments offer. Moreover, by enhancing food safety culture in the food establishments, food-borne diseases incidents will be decreased to a great extend, apart from the economical benefits they enjoy as a result of reduced number of legal actions including product recalls, product confiscation and destruction and closure of businesses" explained Dr. Mariam.

Dr Mariam added saying that ADFCA is deeply interested to introduce Salamat Zadna to various organizations and authorities in the country which are concerned with food safety. She expressed ADFCA's readiness to work with authorities interested to benefit from the success story of Salamat Zadna, including Ajman Municipality, pointing to the fact that such joint efforts will contribute in cementing the relations among various government bodies in UAE as well as to develop a leading food sector characterized by high levels of quality and safety.

It is noted that Salamat Zadna, the gold medal award winning initiative in the 2014's Al Namoos Excellence Awards of ADFCA, is conceptualized and designed in line with the recommendations put forward by leading global organizations concerned with food such as Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission.