Ministry sets up free hotline for public to make complaints on food quality at eateries DOHA • The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning (MMAUP) has set a free hotline 8008888 for its food quality control campaign that was launched with the advent of the Holy month of Ramadan. The free line is dedicated to receive calls from people who want to comment on food outlets in any part of the country during Ramadan. The operator will receive the calls and forward complaints to concerned municipal department for immediate action. Speaking to The Peninsula, Nouaf Al Shafi, from MMAUP's Public Relations, said that since the announcement of the hotline on the first day of Ramadan, many calls from the public have been received. Most of the callers complained about the cleanliness of food handlers and other kitchen issues. As the hotline is a newly introduced service, people are confused with other hotlines which have different objective. "We are receiving calls that have nothing to do with the main objective of the hotline. For instance, people call up and start inquiring about employment opportunities," he said. The Food Control and Inspection Department (FCID) is deploying inspectors to various whole and retail food outlets including restaurants, hotels, bakeries, abbatoirs, vegetable and fruit shops, shopping centres and hair cutting saloons in three shifts daily. Besides, food inspection, the team will also check health certificate of food handlers and their personal hygiene. The department wants to ensure that the quality of the food served at the mass Iftar event is of a high quality. Inspectors are equipped with latest devices that can test food quality such as the oil used to fry food without taking the samples to the central laboratory. According to the new system, the list of violators noted by the inspectors is automatically recorded in a central database system of the ministry. Al Nouf informed no major violation has been recorded so far barring a few minor cases. Warning notices were dispatched to the violators. MMAUP is running a media campaign to raise public awareness on the importance of food safety and the need of their interaction with the authorities. To this end the MMAUP has put up posters in shopping centres, lectures are delivered in schools and various media outlets, said the official. The Pen

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