“However, while 105 violators were fined, the violations of 195 shops were not very serious and so they were allowed to make amends and continue operating,” said Bashir Abu Najm, director general of the Licensing and Commercial Monitoring Department.

While 653 shops were in violation of hygiene regulations, 278 shops had broken licensing regulations, he added.

The violations were discovered when field inspectors inspected a total of 2,082 shops. “Of the 653 shops in violation of hygiene regulations, six shops were in the Balad area, 135 in Jamiah, 32 in Jeddah Al-Jadeedah, 93 in Al-Aziziyah, 67 in Al-Janoub, 99 in Al-Matar, nine in Dhahban, 47 in Obhur, 152 in Umm Salam, 12 in Briman and one in Thuwal,” said Abu Najm.

“The most common health violation involved workers not having valid health cards, negligence in adhering to health and safety regulations, poor cleaning practices, staff not wearing uniforms and poor preservation of food,” he added.

Inspectors also found that 248 shops in Al-Matar district, five shops in Umm Salam and three in Al-Jamia had broken licensing regulations.

While 24 shops were fined, five shops made amends. Another common violation involved shopkeepers displaying wares outside their shops.

In another development, municipal inspectors destroyed 1,696 kg of rotten fish after seizing 1,987 kg of fish from fish markets across Jeddah. The remaining 291 kg of fish was found to be edible and handed to local charities, said Nasser Al-Jarallah, director of the Abattoirs and Fish Markets Administration.

He said that over 51,000 cattle were slaughtered in various municipal slaughterhouses last month, adding that they included 24,551 sheep, 23,827 goats, 2,658 cows and 593 camels.