Bahrain - Shop owners in a commercial block in Hamad Town were yesterday given a week to rectify minor violations.
This comes after a field visit by the Northern Municipal Council, as part of a series of inspections to assess the conditions at traditional bakeries, cold stores, cafeterias and fresh produce stores in the governorate.
Yesterday’s field visit was to Block 1210 in Hamad Town and included officials from the Northern Municipality, ministries of Health, Interior, Labour and Social Development and the Industry, Commerce and Tourism along with Eskan Bank and Seef Properties.According to council technical committee chairman Abdullah Al Qubaisi, the surprise inspections are key to ensuring health regulations when handling food are implemented while also ensuring workers are provided with adequate facilities and equipment.
“Cafeteria workers weren’t appropriately dressed to serve food and one of them was even wearing slippers which is dangerous as there are cookers, oil cylinders and hot oil,” he said.
“The workers use the bathroom of a nearby mosque because of a lack of adequate facilities on the premises; some of them even sleep inside the cafeteria after it’s closed.“How do we know they wash their hands when they go to the bathroom before they bake the bread?“This commercial block is near a school which opens soon which means these violations need to be rectified because our children will be buying from these places.”
Public Health senior specialist Haider Ebrahim highlighted that minor infractions were found on the premises and owners were given a week to rectify all violations.“We will return to inspect them,” he said.“We have given them one week to fix the general cleanliness of the premises, the storage of food and broken fly traps and catchers.“Some workers in the cafeteria were also using broken tools and equipment.”
He added that if the violations are not rectified they will be referred to the Public Prosecution.However, a visit to Block 1209 showed full implementation of health and safety regulations while also providing adequate facilities and sleeping quarters for workers on the premises owned by Eskan Bank.
Meanwhile, council vice-chairman Yaseen Zainal highlighted that these visits were critical to ensure the safety of citizens and residents as well as providing humane conditions for the workers.He stressed the importance of the safety of food items – cooked, frozen, canned or fresh – as people’s health was top prority.
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