As part of Dubai Municipality's efforts to complete the preparations for hosting Expo 2020 Dubai, the Food Inspection Section of the Food Safety Department has held a workshop for the Expo 2020 team on mechanisms to ensure food safety for the more than 25 million expected visitors from more than 180 countries, during the event.

"Food safety is a key factor in the success of this global event, which will be the latest addition of the preparations and initiatives organised by various bodies in the Emirate of Dubai," said Iman Al Bastaki, Director of the Food Safety Department.

"The municipality held an orientation workshop for the team, which is issuing licenses for restaurants and food establishments during the global event. The workshop included a review of procedures used in assessing food establishments and explaining the role of the foodborne disease surveillance team in verifying cases of food poisoning. The mechanisms of field investigation as well as those of laboratory testing on samples suspected of causing foodborne diseases were explained, using the latest techniques available at the Dubai Central Laboratory," said Al Bastaki.

"Specialists from the Food Inspection Section explained all the requirements of licensing new food establishments, especially those that will have branches at the Expo site. They stressed the importance of following these requirements to ensure the implementation of the specifications approved by the municipality," she said.

Sultan Ali Al Taher, Head of the Food Inspection Section, said that the body applies all recognised international best practices in the field of food safety via a smart system based on risk assessment.

"The repeated inspection and control mechanisms are carried out according to a system that takes into account the potential hazards of the food outlets and their previous results, as well as other food safety standards, as characterised by excellence and transparency," he said.