Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority today (Tuesday) launched a new program for issuing on the spot licenses for food establishments participating in time-bound events like festivals and exhibitions. ADFCA is the first government entity in the UAE to executive such a program.
Inspectors of ADFCA started implementing the new program at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC). ADNEC is hosting the Ramadan and Eid Festival currently, which has the participation of a large number of food establishments.
Mohamed Jalal Al Reyaysa, Director of Communication and Community Service at ADFCA, said the program was a major advancement in the field operations as it would facilitate food establishments taking part in time-bound events like exhibitions. "Earlier, a food establishment had to wait for five working days to get the temporary licenses. With the new program, this has been reduced to mere five hours," he pointed out.
As per the earlier system, a food establishment would visit ADFCA's main office with all the documents and submit the applications. Thereafter, the inspectors would visit the venue of the event and check if all the rules are adhered to and conditions fulfilled. If not, the process would be delayed even further.
But as per the new procedure, the whole process will be completed at the venue. Even if there is non-compliance with the rules, the inspectors will convey the same to the food outlet and give them time to rectify them. The inspectors will return to the same outlet a few hours later and issue the license if satisfied about compliance. The fee for temporary licenses, which used to be AED 200, has now been fully waved as a mark of encouragement for participation and commercial dynamism in the emirate.
Al Reyaysa said the coming months will see a spurt in exhibitions and festivals in the emirate. "The new program will make participation in such programs a very easy process for food establishments. We expect to issue around 800 licenses through the new program before the end of Ramadan," he revealed.
