In a major clamp down on eateries, the Jeddah municipality shut down more than 300 food establishments in January due to various violations including use of expired or rotten food items, poor storage, unhygienic conditions in kitchens and rodent infestations.

Mohammed Al-Bogami, spokesman for the Jeddah municipality, said: “The teams documented some serious violations and closed down around 150 restaurants and another 150 warehouses due to poor storage conditions.”

Explaining that the closures were temporary until the violations had been rectified, Al-Bogami said that some restaurants had reopened without the municipality’s permission. “We closed those eateries again and slapped fines on them for opening without permission,” he said.