DOHA: The Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning is not doing enough to ensure that eateries and food outlets across the country comply with the regulations related to health and hygiene, feel a number of citizens and expatriates.An online survey conducted by Al Sharq found that a majority of the respondents- 65 percent- do not believe most eateries here are following good hygiene. Only 20 percent expressed the opposite view.
About 50 percent of the respondents also believe that the government monitoring on eateries is not satisfactory. However, 43 percent think that the monitoring is up to the mark. A bigger number of respondents- 94 per cent- called for intensifying inspections on restaurants, cafeterias and food outlets across the country.
Reacting to the survey findings several citizens and members of the Central Municipal Council (CMC) expressed the view that the inspections are not continuous and are limited to certain localities.
“Not all parts of the country are covered by the municipal inspectors. They are focusing only on certain important locations in the city. Remote areas and places like Industrial Area have been ignored. People working with many restaurants and cafeterias in the Industrial Area don’t wear hand gloves while serving food,” said Hassan Al Hakeem, a Qatari businessman, citing his personal experience.
CMC member Ahmed Al Sheeb said that there is a severe lack of awareness about health and hygiene among those working with eateries. “There is a need of intensifying inspections during week-ends when there will be more rush in the restaurants. Many of them simply ignore the rules in a rush to make money and accommodate more customers,” said Al Sheeb. A restaurant manager said that eateries are now under pressure to improve their standards because people are openly discussing such issues in the social media.
“If someone detect a problem in a restaurant immediately they will make it public through social media. This is putting more pressure on the eateries,” he added.
Abdulla Al Qadi said that there is a lack of continuous monitoring by the municipalities.
“The inspectors would visit a locality and then they forget the area for the next many weeks or months. This is making the eateries lax in following the rules,” he said.The Peninsula
