Shaikha Dr. Rashaa Ahmed Bin Sultan Al Qassemi
Assistant Director-General for Public Health & Central Labs
The Sharjah Food Safety Program (SFSP) is a government
initiative being led by Sheikha Dr Rasha Al-Qassemi (pictured
on the right) and the Quality and Health Education Office
(QHEO) of Sharjah Municipality, in the Emirate of Sharjah,
United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The program involves innovative and integrated food safety
training, assessment, management system implementation,
audit and certification for the food sector in Sharjah, which
includes over 7,000 food service, food retail, and food
manufacturing businesses.
At the time of writing, the program is in its fourth year, and has so far brought about
significant positive impact to the food safety practices in the Emirate of Sharjah. The program
is the first of its kind to integrate the ‘end-to-end’ components of large-scale food safety
implementation and manage them within an over-arching program structure.
The primary aim of the SFSP is to improve food safety standards in the Emirate of Sharjah.
This relates to overall food safety practices, and importantly does not only seek to improve
food safety knowledge, but also positively impact attitude and behaviour. Related aims
include the protection and improvement of public health, the creation of sustainable local
food safety expertise and an increase in private sector investment in sectors such as tourism.
From a practical perspective, the SFSP aims to establish food safety management systems
based on the principles of good hygiene practice (GHP) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Point (HACCP) in every food business.
This is to be enabled by the creation of a food sector sufficiently trained and empowered to implement, manage and maintain such systems. This follows international best practice with particular reference to recent guidance issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organisation (WHO) of the United Nations (Codex, 2009; FAO/WHO, 2006). Program Aims The SFSP has been planned in line with project and program management best practice. As such the SFSP is divided into multiple components, and sequenced in a manner that enables realistic uptake by industry, provides a controlled ‘ramp-up’ for the management team and prioritises those areas judged to have the greatest impact on public health. The components include phases, sectors, stages, and steps:
Phases:
Broad functional divisions of program implementation.
Sectors:
Groupings of businesses undertaking broadly similar activities.
Stages:
Hierarchical groupings from businesses in each sector.
Steps:
Sequential implementation activities at each stage.