11,000 food samples go under Municipality scanner in H1

By PMA RASHEED

The Gulf Today, 19 Aug 2010

THE food and environment laboratory in Dubai has carried out analysis on 10,989 samples of food items during the first half of the current year, according to the statistics revealed by sources at Dubai Municipality (DM).

The specialist lab under the department of the Dubai Central Laboratory (DCL) had collected these number of food samples to confirm their suitability for human consumption.

According to the half-yearly report of the lab, about 7,391 food samples have been received for quality control and food safety, while 333 food samples were taken for review and study purposes.

“At least 1,292 food samples were received from private sector, while it’s 1,152 samples from the civic departments. The lab also collected 821 environmental samples from the private sector,” said the report.

It disclosed that the lab also conducted 77,373 chemical, radiological and microbiological tests on food and environmental samples during the six-month period of 2010. Among them, 64,156 were tests on food samples and 13,217 were tests on environmental samples.

“At least 123 samples also have been analysed at the lab for environmental monitoring purpose, while 600 tests were conducted on wastewater from industrial waste as well as sea water samples,” it elaborated.

A spokesperson of the Municipality said that a series of research and development studies have been carried out by the food and environment lab section aimed at increasing the efficiency of the labs and meeting the requirements of the beneficiaries.

“So far, 13 developmental studies have been conducted in regard to chemical analysis, while three other researches have been completed in the field of environment,” he added.

According to him, the food and environment lab will examine the proportion of alcohol in samples of chocolate in coordination with the Emirates Authority for Standardisation (EAS).

“The section has also activated its e-services and the customers have been trained to use the new system,” noted the official.

The DCL has been the European Commission’s reference lab in the UAE to examine samples of camel milk imported into the European countries in coordination with the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW).

(Photo used for illustrative purpose)