Under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Minister of Finance, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Municipality, Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director- General of Dubai Municipality today inaugurated the 9th Dubai International Food Safety Conference at Dubai World Trade Center.
In his opening speech Lootah said: "The civic body is organising this important conference on food safety in the context of many significant occasions, events and developments in the emirate of Dubai within few years to come. Upcoming Expo 2020, declaration of Dubai as the capital of Islamic Economy and the launch of Dubai Smart Government and Smart City initiative are on the top of our priorities and we work hard to achieve our desired goals together with all government and private organisations." "I am extremely happy to observe the increasing participation of delegates from different countries in Dubai’s international food safety conference, which has already become a global platform for experts in the industry from all parts of the world." "The participants will get a very rare opportunity to meet international food safety industry experts and share the knowledge and experiences," he said.
Khalid Sharif Al Awadi, director food control department at Dubai Municipality in his comments on occasion said, "The UAE imports 90 percent of food for its daily needs which represents 60% of the total food traded in the GCC countries. Dubai is the third largest re-exporting hub of food stuff in the world where the external trade of Dubai reached 13 billion dollar in 2013 and is expected be doubled in 2020." "As Dubai is geared up to go smart in its overall procedures and services provided by government departments, the food control department of Dubai municipality would like to be the forerunner in the field of food safety taking all required steps without any delay. The department already started implementing the smart inspector, smart supervisor and smart consumer initiatives through its recently developed applications." "Our team is well prepared to confront any future challenges in the field of food safety. The civic body is committed to take all necessary steps to tackle any food born diseases and related issues. It’s worth noting that by 2020, there would be a growth of 2.3 % in the population of Dubai only along with the increase in new jobs by 95,000 and number of visitors 98.5 million," he said.
Frank Yiannas, Vice President of Food Safety at Walmart delivered the keynote presentation and said, "Food safety awareness is at an all-time high, the food system is becoming increasingly complex, and foodborne disease outbreak continues to be reported. Despite the fact that we - as a profession - have conducted millions of microbiological tests, trained vast numbers of food workers, and conducted countless number of inspections at home and abroad, food safety remains a significant public health challenge." The conference had a special session for students with different programmes and workshops dedicated for the college and university students.