Dubai international food safety conference opens

DUBAI / WAM

Over 2,500 participants, representing more than 55 nationalities from various food-related entities are participating in the 11th Dubai International Food Safety Conference which opens at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, inaugurated the conference in the presence of the members of the Board of Directors of UAE Food Bank, which is attended by regulatory authorities, universities and research centres, food companies and civil society organisations.
The conference, which is being held from November 19-21 is organised by the Food Safety Department of Dubai Municipality with support from the International Association for Food Protection, International Union of Food Science and Technology and the Institute of Food Technologists.
“This year’s conference coincides with the launch of the vision of the future by the Government of Dubai 10X and other initiatives that support the emirate’s drive to make Dubai a unique destination of progress and development, so we saw that the theme of this session should be Predict Prevent Protect,” said Lootah.
He said food safety experts and professionals from around the world will review, over three days, the most important smart solutions, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, IoT, and electronic sensing tools, to take advantage of all these techniques to find innovative solutions to the challenges to food safety at the international level.
“The most important of these challenges is the increase in shipments of imported food, which in 2016 amounted to more than 350,000 food consignments and more than two million food categories imported from over 180 countries. Dubai Municipality has registered more than 600,000 food categories through its electronic system,” said Lootah.
“Smart solutions will help us to develop integrated food safety systems during the Expo 2020 Dubai, which includes the new Food Watch App, an intelligent system of self-monitoring in food establishments,” he said.
Lootah attended the official launch of the Food Watch App, developed by Dubai Municipality, in which the data of 20,000 food outlets in Dubai will be uploaded in a timed manner before the commencement of Expo 2020.
Noura Abdulla Al Shamsi, Head of Applied Nutrition and Permits Section and Chairperson of the Organising Committee said, that the conference will showcase the smart solutions in the field of food safety and nutrition.
The opening ceremony also witnessed the honouring of the entities supporting the UAE Food Bank. A meeting of the UAE Food Bank’s Board of Trustees was also held alongside the Food Safety Conference.