MAKKAH, 12 February 2005 — The first rule of the restaurant business should be to serve quality food at good prices. But Makkah diners say some of the local eateries should be shut down because of food safety concerns, according to a report in Al-Madinah daily.
Many restaurants in Makkah, especially in the central area surrounding the Grand Mosque, work hard to make the outside of the restaurant look attractive especially during Haj and Umrah times. During Haj food quality plays second to the outside looks, and the restaurateurs pay more attention to building appearance than health concerns. Customers blame the lack of health supervision for this problem.
They said that the rules aren’t strict enough. Al-Madinah visited many restaurants in the central area of Makkah and discovered many health violations and employees neglecting the simplest health procedures.
“These restaurants continue to violate health procedures because of the absence of serious punishment,” said Muhammad Ali, a Makkah resident. “If there was good supervision from the authorities then we wouldn’t see these violations. The workers are inexperienced, and they are not trained in hygiene and food safety. Most restaurants in Makkah are managed by foreign workers who know little about health.”
“Our restaurants are unhealthy and should be avoided,” said Adel Al-Mehmadi, another Makkah resident. “I only buy from restaurants when my wife is not home and I am tired and cannot cook.”
He said the chicken used restaurants is the worst and cheapest kind. Their price is SR6 per chicken. They can be bought still cheaper when their sell-by date is about to pass. There are many cases of food poisoning because of these practices,” he said.
“The worst thing is that Saudis are involved in this whole mess by renting their restaurants to inexperienced foreign workers in search of a quick profit,” said Marzooq ibn Matouq.
