But it’s not all bad news, more than 1,400 others have been given top food safety honours

Speak to any professional chef and they’ll tell you that hygiene in a restaurant kitchen is king. Which is precisely why Dubai Municipality has ordered the temporary shut down of 94 food outlets in the first half of 2017.

Sultan Ali Al Taher, head of Food Inspection Section in the Food Safety Department at Dubai Municipality, gave the offending outlets the opportunity to shut their doors and shape up, or risk being fined.

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While a list of the offending outlets was not released, a statement from Dubai Municipality did outline some of the reasons for the closures including violations such as expired and spoiled foodstuff, unhealthy practices as well as the presence of insects in some restaurants. Eww.

The municipality was alerted to the state of some outlets by concerned residents ,with Al Taher noting that this is good first step that prompted further investigation, “We receive several communications from consumers, but they must be confirmed before deciding whether or not to issue fines”.

Thankfully, it’s not all bad news

Out of a total of 15,681 inspections conducted since the beginning of the year, 1,409 restaurants were awarded gold or excellent ratings.

He added, “Out of the 1,409 food outlets that were awarded Excellent and Gold rating during the evaluation, 774 have received the Gold rating and 2,455 received Very Good. There were 1,991 establishments that received Good rating.”

Al Taher noted that violations were more prevalent during the summer months due to higher temperatures affecting the quality of food.

Dubai Municipality encourages residents get in contact should they encounter any questionable practices when visiting a restaurant.

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Image: Getty