Dubai has imported eight million tons of food during 2021 and re-exported 6.277 million shipments through all its ports, a Dubai Municipality press release said on Thursday.
Dubai also issued 78,812 food export health certificates, while the quantity of food exported last year amounted to 3.272 tons to 157 countries after verifying their safety and compliance with food safety standards and requirements.
Sultan Al Taher, Director of Food Safety Department in Dubai Municipality, said that these efforts comply with the municipality’s responsibility for the continued flow of food imports to Dubai’s markets and ensure the smooth flow of their passage through the ports following strict procedures.
He added that all food items must be registered within the regulatory system subject to the provisions of food control regarding local and imported foodstuff. This ensures that the food reaches the consumer within the approved standards and specifications and helps control the follow-up of food.
Al Taher stated that all types of food are registered electronically through a global system, which is one of the unique systems in controlling imported and locally produced foods in the emirate. The system offers sample results, risk ratios in materials, and dates for collecting samples across their locations.
He emphasized linking the emirate with countries that apply special requirements in food safety, which facilitates food control, as it comes from approved countries and applies global practices in this regard.