Officials close 83 restaurant kitchens, seize rotten meat

JEDDAH: Municipality inspectors closed 83 restaurant kitchens and seized the rotten meat of 725 animals that were supposed to be distributed to restaurants and shops on the first and day of Eid Al-Adha.
Naseer Al-Matab Musad, the secretary of municipalities, confirmed on Sunday that the Briman branch of Jeddah Municipality seized the rotten meat of 725 animals that was ready to be distributed by 62 trucks.
He said Jeddah Municipality is combating all illegal activities, even the distribution of rotten sacrificial meat, in the framework of health safety and security of the residents and visitors of the city. He explained that the municipality is coordinating with security agencies and checkpoints of the province's entrances to keep an eye on the movement of vehicles, monitor any type of violation and report it to the municipality.
The municipality has ordered all checkpoints to seize any vehicle that transports sacrificial meat without the required preservation and storage. The official said Jeddah Municipality is keen on providing security and safety of food to residents and visitors of Jeddah and stresses the implementation of plans to reduce the negative phenomena during the Haj season, especially the smuggling of meat from the holy sites.
The official also said that in the framework to protect the residents and visitors of Jeddah from any health hazards, inspectors have closed 83 kitchens, gave notice to 37 other kitchens and shut down nine meat shops in different parts of the city after noticing irregularities.
He explained that these kitchens were closed due to irregular licenses, poor distribution of food, lack of health certificates for workers, low levels of hygiene, unhealthy cooking utensils and rotten food.
M. Mohammed Al-Zahrani, the head of the southern area sub-municipality, said that since last Thursday morning they have seized 461 sacrificial animals which were rotten and detained 41 vehicles that were used in smuggling this rotten meat.
He also said that they checked all the animals with veterinary clinics before destroying the meat under the observation of branch management representatives.


Faisal Al-Maliki, the head of Briman Municipality, said they seized 264 sacrificial animals in 21 vehicles used for transportation at the Usfaan checkpoint and all the meat was destroyed by the veterinarian slaughterhouses under the observation of the branch management representative.