Inspections on Saudi eateries intensify

Authorities in Jeddah have intensified inspections on restaurants to enforce the display of the calorie content on menu cards in their efforts to tackle the obesity problem by cutting down the consumption of fattening food.

Since its launch on Jan. 1, Jeddah Municipality with the collaboration of the Saudi Food and Drugs Authority (SFDA) has inspected 680 food outlets in the city and found 402 of them failed to comply with the rule of calorie display, said a statement issued by Jeddah Municipality on Monday.

The municipality emphasized that along with SFDA it has committed to the campaign where all restaurants, cafes, ice-cream parlors, sweet shops, pastries, bakeries and juice shops required to display the calorie content of each item on their menus.

Launched by the SFDA in partnership with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Consumer Protection Association, the initiative is meant to create awareness about the nutritional value of meals to create awareness about obesity.

The SFDA requires the menus to include information on calories, protein, vitamins, minerals, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, total sugar and added sugar.

The food and drugs agency started implementing the initiative in two phases. In the first phase, it made listing calories on menu cards optional in 2017 and made it mandatory from Jan. 1, 2019.

This initiative comes as part of the efforts to safeguard consumer health and create awareness about the importance of knowing the nutritional value of meals and drinks provided by restaurants and cafes.

The average daily diet content for an ordinary individual should not exceed 2,000 calories as per the diet content regulations.

Saudi Arabia ranks 21st in the world on the list of countries with the highest BMI globally, according to a US Food and Drug Administration report, and has the world’s third highest incidence of cancer caused by obesity, based on a 2018 report written by authors from the American Cancer Society.