DOHA: Al Khor and Al Dhakhira Municipality last month conducted more than 600 inspection visits during which it registered 13 violations and shut down a cafeteria for violating the law for regulation of food for human consumption.

The drive included 380 visits to restaurants, 120 visits to supermarkets, 40 visits to fruit and vegetable shops and 55 to butcheries among others. The aim of these visits was to determine how they met the health requirements in terms of manufacturing, storage, transport and the display of food items for consumers. The Health Monitoring Section at Municipality also renewed the licences of 12 commercial shops after determining their approval of the requirements, and also issued new licenses to seven shops.

The veterinarians of the Health Monitoring Section supervised the slaughterhouses and the fish market and the number of livestock slaughtered last month was 1,366, among them 18 were destroyed because they were unfit for human consumption. It also destroyed 272kg of fish unfit for human consumption.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment has launched an awareness campaign under the title ‘Safe Shopping’ aims at raising awareness among all segments of the society and providing them with healthy tips during shopping.

The campaign is in collaboration with Al Rayyan Municipality and participation from members of Qatar Cultural and Social Center for the Deaf .

Among the most important tips during shopping of food items are the need to start buying dry materials such as cereals and canned food, and to check about the expire date. Also people are being advised not to leave fresh food, particularly meat, in the car for a long time.