KUWAIT CITY, Nov 15: A number of butchery shops were shut down after an intensive inspection campaign conducted recently by the Commercial Control Department at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry because the owners were found to have violated the food safety and sanitation regulations, reports Al-Rai daily quoting Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Control Affairs Abdulaziz Al-Khalidi.
During the campaign, Al-Khalidi revealed the inspectors also confiscated tons of spoilt frozen sheep meat from Australia and other Arab nations. He said the ministry had earlier formed six inspection teams to monitor the butchery shops, restaurants, cafés, fruits and vegetable markets, and other food shops in various governorates daily during the Eid holidays. He added the teams started the daily inspection on Friday and it will continue until after the Eid holidays to protect the health of consumers and prevent any unreasonable price hike.

Asserting the ministry is closely monitoring the activities of traders, especially those who cheat the consumers to earn higher profits, Al-Khalidi affirmed several butchery shops and restaurants have been shut down since the start of the campaign. He said one of the teams discovered a warehouse full of frozen sheep meat that expired several years ago but the company stored the meat instead of destroying it in coordination with the Kuwait Municipality.

On the soaring price of sheep in the local market, Al-Khalidi attributed this to the law of supply and demand, stressing the price will go back to normal after the holidays.

Moreover, an official source has unveiled the Municipality’s plan to allow the private sector to test food products purchased from other countries to reduce pressure on the laboratories of the Health ministry and speed up the announcement of test results for new consignments.

Meanwhile, Director of Kuwait Municipality Faleh Al-Shimmari said the fees for slaughtering sheep, goats and gazelles is KD 1 per animal and KD 10 per camel and cow at slaughterhouses across the country, reports Al-Anba daily.

He added that all slaughterhouses have completed preparations for Eid Al-Adha and will receive customers during mornings and evenings on all three days. He also mentioned that the technical system will operate all 24 hours at the slaughterhouses.

The Capital municipal branch has set up an emergency line 1855555 to receive complaints, noted Al-Shimmari.