Food safety in Dubai: inspections and records

A new restaurant in Dubai passes its opening inspection, trades well for a few months and then receives a routine visit on a busy lunchtime. The inspector checks the fridges, watches a cook handle raw chicken, asks to see the cleaning records and asks who the Person in Charge is today. The certified chef who usually holds the role is on leave, and nobody else on shift has the certificate. A good kitchen loses marks for something that had nothing to do with its food.

Food safety in Dubai is overseen by Dubai Municipality, which sets the requirements for every food establishment, inspects them and expects each one to manage food safety every day, not just on the day of an inspection. Much of what inspectors look for is the same as anywhere: clean premises, safe handling, the right temperatures. What is particular to Dubai is the way responsibility is organised, around a certified Person in Charge, and the records that show the system works.

This guide covers what inspectors look for, the Person in Charge and the training behind the role, the records to keep and how to stay ready between visits. Requirements are updated from time to time, so check every detail against Dubai Municipality's current guidance. Every venue and figure in it is an example.

Dubai Municipality is responsible for food safety in food establishments in Dubai. Its Food Safety Department sets the requirements, approves food establishment designs, trains and certifies the people responsible for food safety and inspects establishments.

The requirements are set out in the Dubai Municipality food code and in guidance documents for particular activities. They change from time to time, so the current versions on the Municipality's website are the reference, not any summary, including this one.

Every food establishment in Dubai must appoint a Person in Charge, known as the PIC: a member of the team who holds a food safety certificate and manages food safety in the establishment day to day. According to Dubai Municipality, the PIC is the link between the establishment and the Municipality.

PICs are trained at different levels depending on the establishment's activities and risk, and receive their certificate after passing a test. The PIC supervises daily food safety practices, checks them against an approved checklist and makes sure corrective actions are taken after inspections.

The PIC's role is to manage food safety whenever food is being handled, which means the venue needs a certified person available on every shift, not just one certificate for the whole business. A venue with a single PIC who works days has nobody responsible on the night shift or during the PIC's holidays.

Train more than one person, and plan the rota so a certified PIC is on site whenever the kitchen is open. Keep the certificates where inspectors can see them.

Dubai Municipality's guidance expects all food handling staff, supervisors and managers to be trained in food safety at a level suited to their role. The PIC is responsible for making sure the team receives basic food hygiene training and follows the Municipality's requirements.

Keep a training record for every member of staff: the training they received, when and from whom. A new starter who has not yet been trained should not handle food unsupervised.

Inspectors look at the same broad areas as food safety inspectors anywhere: how food is received, stored, prepared, cooked, cooled, held and served; the cleanliness and condition of the premises and equipment; personal hygiene and hand washing; pest control; allergen handling; and the records that show the system works every day.

They also watch the kitchen at work. A cook who moves from raw meat to salad without washing their hands, or a chopping board used for both, will be noticed whatever the records say.

Inspections in Dubai take account of risk: establishments with higher-risk activities, such as handling raw meat or cooking large volumes, receive more attention than lower-risk ones. Findings are classified by how serious they are, and serious findings must be put right quickly.

Know your own risk category and what it means for your inspections and your PIC's training level. A venue that changes its activities, for example by adding raw dishes or catering, may change its risk category too.

Dubai Municipality grades food establishments on their inspection results, and has reported over the years on the share of establishments achieving the higher grades. The details of the grading schemes have changed over time, so check the current scheme with the Municipality rather than relying on older reports.

Whatever the scheme, the aim is the same: no serious findings and consistently good results. A venue that runs well every day earns good results without special preparation.

Dubai's grading is its own scheme. It is not the same as the food hygiene rating scheme used in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with its scores from 0 to 5, although the principles behind both are similar: safe handling, clean premises and good management.

Owners who have run kitchens elsewhere should learn the local requirements rather than assume they match. Our guide to food hygiene rating: earning the top score covers the general principles that apply in both places.

Food safety management in Dubai follows the same principles as elsewhere: understand the hazards in each process, control the critical steps, monitor them, correct problems and keep records. These are the principles of HACCP, which underpin modern food safety systems.

For many restaurants, the system can be short and practical. Our guide to HACCP without a folder nobody updates covers how to keep it alive rather than in a folder.

Temperature control is at the heart of food safety in a hot climate. Chilled food must be kept cold, frozen food frozen, cooked food cooked thoroughly, hot food held hot and cooked food cooled quickly. The limits to work to are set out in the Municipality's requirements.

Record the temperatures that matter: fridges and freezers, deliveries, cooking, cooling and hot holding. Our guide to temperature records that take one minute covers how to make the checks quick enough to happen every day.

Dubai's heat makes the cold chain especially important. A delivery left at the back door in summer, a fridge door propped open during a busy service or a walk-in that struggles in the hottest months can raise temperatures quickly.

Check deliveries as soon as they arrive, put chilled and frozen food away at once and watch fridge readings closely in the summer. Our guide to Dubai summer trade: surviving the quiet months covers the commercial side of the hot season; the food safety side needs equal care.

Cleaning schedules show what is cleaned, how often and by whom, and inspectors look for them. Daily cleaning of surfaces and equipment, and periodic deep cleaning of the places daily cleaning misses, should both be on the schedule and signed off as they are done.

A cleaning schedule with real signatures and times shows an inspector that cleaning happens every day. One with no signatures shows that it happens when someone remembers.

Pest control is a particular concern in a warm climate. Most establishments use an approved pest control contractor who visits regularly and leaves a report. Keep the reports, act on their recommendations and record what was done.

Prevention matters as much as treatment: food stored off the floor and in sealed containers, gaps sealed, doors kept closed and waste removed promptly.

Keep records of where food comes from: approved suppliers, delivery notes and the checks made on arrival, including temperatures for chilled and frozen food. If a problem is found with a product, the records show which deliveries and dishes were affected.

Buy from approved sources only. Food of unknown origin is a risk to guests and a serious finding at an inspection.

Food prepared in the kitchen and stored for later should be labelled with what it is and when it was made or must be used by. Unlabelled containers, or food past its date, are easy findings for an inspector and easy to avoid.

Keep labels and pens by every fridge, and check the fridges at the end of each service for anything unlabelled or out of date.

Allergen handling is part of food safety, and inspectors check it. Know the allergens in every dish, train the team to answer guests' questions and record allergies on orders, and prevent cross-contact for guests who need it.

Keep allergen information current every time a recipe or supplier changes. A guest's safety depends on it, and so does the venue's reputation.

Buffets and brunches are a large part of dining in Dubai, and they bring their own food safety risks: food displayed for long periods, guests serving themselves and many dishes held hot or cold at once. Holding times and temperatures need close watching.

Set holding times for each dish, replace food rather than topping it up, use guards and serving utensils and check temperatures through the service. Our guide to Dubai brunch: the format, run properly covers the format itself.

Safe water and ice matter as much as food. Ice machines need regular cleaning, ice should be handled with scoops rather than hands or glasses, and water filters and dispensers need maintaining.

Add the ice machine and the water systems to the cleaning schedule, with dates and initials. An ice machine is easy to forget and a common source of problems.

Personal hygiene covers clean uniforms, hand washing, hair covered, no jewellery that could fall into food and staff who are unwell kept away from food. Hand wash basins should be stocked and used only for washing hands.

The PIC should check personal hygiene at the start of every shift. A few minutes before service prevents most of the findings that come from the team rather than the premises.

Food that leaves the kitchen for delivery must stay safe until the guest receives it: packed hot or cold as needed, sealed, labelled with allergens where required and handed to the rider promptly. In Dubai's heat, the time between the pass and the rider matters.

Pack delivery orders as close to collection as possible, and keep a short checklist for packing. Our guide to delivery in Dubai: the channels and the margins covers the commercial side.

If a guest reports becoming ill after eating at the venue, take it seriously. Record what they ate, when and what they report, check the records for that day and the dishes involved and follow the Municipality's requirements for reporting where they apply.

Handle the guest with care and without arguing. Most reports have other causes, but each one deserves a careful look at the records, and a venue with complete records can show what it did.

Cleaning chemicals are a food safety hazard of their own. Store them away from food, in labelled containers, and train the team to use them at the right strength and to rinse where the instructions say so.

Keep the product information for each chemical where the team can find it, and never decant chemicals into food or drink containers. A chemical mistake can harm a guest as surely as a bacterial one.

Contractors, delivery drivers and visitors who enter the kitchen bring their own risks: dirty clothing, tools and boxes on food surfaces, and people unfamiliar with the venue's rules.

Set simple rules for anyone entering the kitchen: hands washed, protective clothing where needed and nothing placed on food surfaces. The PIC on shift is responsible for making sure they are followed.

Dubai Municipality uses an online platform for food establishments, introduced as Foodwatch, through which PICs report on food safety and establishments interact with the Municipality. The PIC should know how to use it and keep the establishment's information current.

Check the Municipality's current guidance on what must be reported and how. Platforms and procedures are updated, and the venue is responsible for keeping up.

After an inspection, read the findings carefully and fix each one, recording what was done and when. The PIC is responsible for corrective actions and for reporting them as the Municipality requires.

Use each inspection to improve the system, not just to fix the points raised. A finding that appears twice is a sign the routine needs changing.

Inspections can come at any time, so the standard has to be kept every day. Daily checks by the PIC, temperature records as part of the routine, cleaning signed off as it is done and a weekly look at the records keep the venue ready for any visit.

Make the routine independent of any one person. If the records are kept only when the head chef is on shift, a week of holiday shows up as a week of gaps.

A new venue is inspected before it opens, and the opening inspection depends on the design approval, the fit-out and the readiness of the team. Have a trained PIC, the food safety system, the records and the team's training in place before the inspection is booked.

Our guide to restaurant licence Dubai: what you apply for sets food safety approvals in the wider licensing map.

Peak seasons bring particular risks. During Ramadan, kitchens prepare large volumes for iftar at the same moment, food may be held for longer and the timing of services changes. Busy festive weeks bring more covers, more staff and more pressure.

Plan the food safety side of each peak: holding times, extra fridge space, extra checks and enough trained staff on every shift. Our guide to iftar bookings: one sitting, everyone at once covers the service side.

Keep all food safety records in one place: the PIC certificates, staff training records, temperature records, cleaning schedules, pest control reports, supplier records and the food safety plan. An inspector who asks for a record should see it within a minute.

Paper, a shared folder or a digital system all work, as long as the records are complete, current and easy to find.

An invented brasserie in Dubai has one certified PIC, its head chef, and keeps temperature records in a notebook in the office. A routine inspection on the chef's day off finds no PIC on shift and gaps in the fridge records. The owner trains two more PICs, the sous chef and the senior cook on nights, so a PIC is on every shift.

Temperature sheets move to each fridge and the pass, the cleaning schedule goes on the kitchen wall with signatures and the PIC on each shift checks personal hygiene and the fridges at the start of service. The next inspection finds a PIC on duty, complete records and no serious findings, and the brasserie keeps the routine through the summer and Ramadan.

servearound keeps no food safety records: there are no temperature logs, cleaning schedules, PIC or training records and no link to the Municipality's platform in it, so those stay in the venue's own records. What it holds is the allergen side of service.

Each dish carries its allergens and dietary tags, shown on the guest menu with filters and a reminder to tell the server about allergies; allergies recorded on a guest's profile appear on their booking; and in the kitchen, the guest's allergies sit at the head of the ticket, with each dish's allergens in red when this guest is allergic to one. See point of sale and kitchen, or get in touch.

Dubai Municipality sets the requirements and inspects food establishments.

A certified member of the team who manages food safety day to day and is the link with the Municipality.

The role must be covered whenever food is handled, so most venues train more than one person.

Yes, at a level suited to their role, with records kept.

No. It is Dubai's own scheme, with similar principles.

Temperatures, cleaning, pest control, suppliers and deliveries, training and the food safety plan.

The cold chain needs extra care, especially for deliveries and fridges in summer.

In the Dubai Municipality food code and the Municipality's guidance, which are updated from time to time.

Food safety in Dubai is overseen by Dubai Municipality, which expects every food establishment to have a certified Person in Charge, trained food handlers, safe practices and records that show the system works every day. Inspections are risk-based, findings must be put right quickly and the grading scheme is Dubai's own, not the UK's food hygiene rating.

Train more than one PIC so every shift is covered, keep temperature records and cleaning schedules where the work happens, protect the cold chain in the heat and follow HACCP principles in a short, practical system. Check every requirement against the current Dubai Municipality food code and guidance, and keep the records in one place so any inspector can see them within a minute.