JEDDAH: Online pictures of filth, insects and badly stored food in restaurants have disgusted consumers, especially those who are fond of eating out during the summer vacation.
The pictures showed insects in food, ingredients being stored in bathrooms, cigarette butts on tables used to chop meat, and workers’ dirty nails.
People who saw and exchanged the online pictures have warned their friends and families to stay away from restaurants and eat at home instead.
Commenting on the photographs, Assistant Director of Environmental Health at Riyadh municipality Falah Al-Dousari said he first saw these pictures about three years ago but did not know exactly where they came from.
“Most of the violations we discover in restaurants are due to the bad practices of the workers, who are ignorant of the best methods to store and preserve food,” he said.
Talking to our sister publication Al-Eqtisadiah, Al-Dousari said they were monitoring weekly about 15,000 restaurants, parks, coffee shops, cafeterias, malls, and fast-food locations to make sure the food they served was hygienic and safe for consumption.
He added that these places were visited once every week during the summer, while they would be inspected once a month the rest of the year.
Al-Dousari said that most workers with cracks on hands and dirty nails had come from countries not known for adherence to hygiene standards.
“They are here only for money. They do not care about our health,” he said. Al-Dousari said the Department of Environmental Health was keen on intensifying its inspections of food-serving places during peak seasons, including the summer vacations and the two Eids.
“We concentrate our inspection tours on places such as restaurants, buffets, entertainment centers and parks,” he explained.
He also said the department puts emphasis on spreading awareness about cleanliness among workers and showing them the best methods to store and serve food.
Al-Dousari asked all citizens and expatriates to inform the department about any violations in restaurants using the free telephone number 940 at any time.
He recalled that the Riyadh municipality had recently launched a campaign under the title “Food Safety in Summer” to make sure that food served to customers was safe and healthy.
