The General Authority for Food and Drug revealed the adoption of 85 regulatory measures against non-compliant food establishments in Mafraq Governorate from the beginning of the current year until the end of August, including 63 cases of suspension and 22 cases of closure, due to violations that necessitated the adoption of regulatory measures against the violating establishments.
The authority said, in response to inquiries from the "Al-Rai" newspaper, that its branch in Mafraq Governorate carried out during the same period 2280 inspection visits to various establishments, markets, and sites under its supervision, at an average of approximately 285 visits per month, while the number of establishments under supervision in the governorate is about 2200 establishments.
It explained that the measures taken against the establishments come within the framework of a continuous regulatory program to ensure compliance with the adopted health and technical requirements, indicating that the nature of the measure depends on the degree of the violation and its potential impact on consumer health, starting from corrective measures and warnings, up to suspension or closure and referral to the competent authorities when necessary.
The authority pointed out that the most prominent violations monitored by the Mafraq branch are poor storage of foodstuffs, failure to comply with appropriate temperatures for food preservation, low level of general hygiene, violation of health requirements, and the presence of expired or unfit foodstuffs for consumption, in addition to violations related to licenses and requirements specific to the practice of the activity.
Regarding citizen complaints, the authority indicated that the Mafraq branch received during the first eight months of the year 123 complaints, which were dealt with and more than 91 percent of them were followed up, explaining that the regulatory teams verify the content of the complaints on the ground and take the necessary measures in case of proving the existence of a violation.
It added that the complaints varied between suspicion of the presence of unfit or expired foodstuffs, poor storage and circulation, and failure to comply with health requirements, in addition to complaints related to the quality of some products and food establishments, confirming that citizen complaints are one of the important sources in directing the regulatory work.
The authority stressed the continuation of the Mafraq branch in implementing food sample withdrawals and sending them to the authority's laboratories to conduct the necessary tests, pointing out that in case of proving that any product does not comply with the specifications or safety requirements, it is confiscated and its circulation is prevented and withdrawn from the markets and destroyed according to the rules, in addition to taking legal measures against the violating establishment according to the nature of the violation and its degree of danger.
The authority emphasized that the supervision of food establishments and markets in Mafraq comes within the framework of its efforts aimed at ensuring the safety and quality of circulating foodstuffs and protecting consumer health, confirming at the same time that it is working to evaluate the needs of its branches in various governorates, including the Mafraq branch, in a manner commensurate with the size of the economic and food activity and the expansion in the number of establishments under supervision.
