DOHA: Al Khor Municipality has severely criticised Widam Food Company, formerly Mawashi, accusing it of not properly managing the abattoir in the area.
The municipality has given the company a deadline after Ramadan to carry out maintenance work on the slaughter house and improve its services. It has said that the abattoir is in a bad condition and that it has the authority to shut it but is not doing so in public interest.
“People would suffer if we close down the slaughter house, so we have given an ultimatum to Widam to renovate it and improve services,” said a senior official from the municipality.
Eisa Hassan Al Mohannadi, from the food monitoring section of the municipality, said that the condition of the abattoir is such that it doesn’t match with the development taking place in the country. “We have also asked Widam to change the place where they keep the livestock.”
Some 500 animals are slaughtered at the abattoir during Ramadan, he said.
According to him, if Widam is not in a position to carry out maintenance work and run the abattoir properly, there are other companies the facility can be entrusted with. He and senior officials from some other municipalities were at the Ramadan tent of Al Sharq newspaper. He was chatting informally with the newspaper’s reporters after the opening of the tent.
Al Mohannadi said that there is close cooperation with other GCC countries and if any disease or virus is detected among animals or meat, the information is exchanged with them.
“Also, if we find that some food items that do not meet our standards we exchange the information with our neighbouring states.”
Mohamed Saleh Al Marri, from Al Wakrah Municipality, said that they have set up a hotline for consumers to lodge complaints against eateries and retail outlets during Ramadan.
“We have put up notices in all eateries and shopping centres prominently mentioning the hotline number for people to file complaints.”
So far consumer complaints of only minor nature have been received, he added.
The Peninsula
