UAE acts with global perspective to improve food safety!
As per the World Health Organization(WHO), unsafe or contaminated food in current times poses a serious global health hazard. Urbanization, convenience in travel and globalization lead to an increase in the risk of spreading foodborne diseases across international borders. Did you know nearly 600 million people worldwide are estimated to be exposed to contaminated food each year, of which 420,000 cases are fatal?
UAE’s growing need for food safety standards
While Dubai is identified as the leading city in the urban emerging markets in terms of purchase parity and consumer discretion, with a growing and dynamic food industry, the Eastern Mediterranean region records more than 100 million people being affected by foodborne diseases every year.
UAE government steps up protocols
To address the food safety concern, the municipal bodies in UAE have introduced various proactive measures to spread awareness and collaboratively find solutions to the related industries. These include:
- Setting up of various government organizations for food regulations. E.g. Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, Dubai Municipality for Dubai Food Imports, Ministry of Health for Medical Devices and Medicines Regulation. Together, these organizations are responsible for establishing health and safety protocols, and ensure these are followed through.
- Establishing the concept of Persons in Charge (PIC) at restaurant premises, who would be responsible for implementing food standards at the place of consumption, by being continuously trained on food hazard prevention, safety management and handling best practices.
- Spreading awareness and encouraging innovation by hosting the Dubai International Food Safety Conference. 2017’s edition, last November, focused on the use of technology and data driven systems to facilitate food inspections and risk assessment, while contributing to overall decision making on food safety.
- Establishing regulations for packaging and labeling in UAE.
H.B. Fuller’s commitment to food safety
Adhesives used in the packaging of food play a critical role in guaranteeing uncontaminated and safe food. The growth of world’s population and the consequent demand for availability of high quality food at multiple locations, far from its production and processing sites, are both the major drivers and challenges of the food packaging industry. Selecting the right adhesive for the different packaging substrates is necessary to ensure that food quality remains untouched and external contamination risks are prevented.
At H.B. Fuller, safety being our primary concern, we follow various European and non-European regulations to provide the highest possible level of packaging safety and integrity, for multiple applications in the food industry. Our Advantra® grades are designed for difficult-to-bond substrates and to withstand extreme weather and transport conditions, supporting improved food packaging performance and high quality food delivery to the consumer.
Find out about H.B. Fuller’s innovative packaging solutions, and discover how we can help you convert your commitment to food safety into a reality.
