JEDDAH: The department for licenses and commercial control at the Jeddah municipality announced it had conducted unannounced inspections of 1,187 shops in various parts of the city last month. Of that number, 295 were free of violations while 892 were guilty of various violations.

According to the department, 189 shops paid fines while 98 corrected their shortcomings on the spot. The municipality said the others were being allowed to rectify their violations.

The municipality destroyed 1,291 kg of spoiled fish out of 1,609 kg confiscated last month. The remaining 318 kg, which were found to be suitable for human consumption, were distributed to welfare societies.

The municipality said 32 shops had committed violations. Of them, 15 were made to sign pledges not to do so in future; 12 were warned and 5 were fined.

The municipality has also closed down several popular restaurants for failing to meet health and safety standards, said an official. Other restaurants are now being warned that they could face fines or closure if they are found to be in violation of health and safety regulations. Employees of restaurants are being asked to follow municipality guidelines on cleanliness as well as health and safety rules in the preparation and serving of food.

“In one restaurant inside a major hotel, our officials found a large quantity of expired food. Although the workers at the restaurant gave many excuses, the municipality officials did not show any leniency and closed the restaurant,” said a municipality official.

The restaurant was allowed to reopen only after it had paid fines and given an undertaking that it would not repeat such violations in the future.

Explaining a bizarre experience, the official said: “A few weeks ago, I received a complaint from a couple who wanted us to visit a famous restaurant in Jeddah as they had found a dead cockroach in their food.”

The manager of the restaurant did not want to accept their claim and alleged that they wanted to tarnish the restaurant’s image and leave without paying the SR400 bill.

“We inspected the restaurant and found it was clean and that there was no evidence to support the couple’s allegation. I then suggested we call the police to decide between the two. The manager then asked the couple to leave and told them they were unwelcome at his restaurant in the future,” he added.

The official also acknowledged that municipal officials could make mistakes when inspecting restaurants. He said the municipality had found violations in 1,082 shops and restaurants out of a total of 1,932 visited last month.

Basheer Abunajm, director of trade licenses and supervision at the municipality, said his office had issued 8,146 health certificates to employees working in shops and restaurants in Jeddah.

“It is the duty of health supervisors to make sure that shops and restaurants follow health and safety rules, that their warehouses are clean, that workers have valid health certificates and to ensure that the workers are not infected with contagious diseases,” he said.