Inspectors find no price-rise violations during holy month

Illegal increases in food prices have not happened this Ramadan, according to the Ministry of Economy's consumer protection head.

Workers at the Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society in Abu Dhabi Mall lower the price of apples yesterday.

ABU DHABI // Illegal increases in food prices have not happened this Ramadan, the Ministry of Economy's consumer protection head said during a spot check in Abu Dhabi yesterday. "My inspectors have been around all the markets in the UAE, and plenty of shops, but things have been normal, and I hope there will be zero violations in the future," Dr Hashem al Nuaimi, the director of the consumer protection department, said while inspecting the Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society in Abu Dhabi Mall.

The visit was part of the Ministry's plan to monitor supermarkets and the Mina Zayed market to ensure prices do not have any unjustified rises during the holy month. According to Dr al Nuaimi, while prices did not rise, some popular items were unavailable on Wednesday. "There were claims that some items of vegetable and fruit were not available, but today when I made rounds in Abu Dhabi Co-op, it was available," said Dr al Nuaimi. "I think it is because a lot of quantity comes from outside the country, there was a problem."

Last week the Ministry of Environment and Water stopped the import of lettuce, parsley, apples and grapes from Jordan and Lebanon after the food was found to contain higher pesticide rates than allowed by the international standards the UAE follows. The Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority will ensure that banned items are removed from supermarket shelves. The authority has its own programme for testing vegetables and fruits for safety.

"There are internationally accepted standards for the permissible levels of pesticide traces in fruits and vegetables," said Mohamed al Reyaysa, director of the communication and community service division at the food authority. "If the traces of pesticides in certain produce are within the permitted level, it is not banned. If it is higher than the permitted levels, the produce is immediately banned because it poses health risks that cannot be allowed."

While prices at hypermarkets, which contract shipments from multiple countries, have not been seriously affected by the ban, the cost of some fruits and vegetables at the Mina Zayed market, which hosts many small retailers, has risen by as much as 25 per cent during the last week. The price of parsley has risen from Dh5 per kilo to Dh19.90 per kilo since the ban was announced, though Khaldon al Najjar, the quality control supervisor at Abu Dhabi Co-operative, said the price was already higher than usual, because of poor weather.

"It is a bad year all over," said Mr Najjar, "whether from Lebanon, Syria or Oman. The greens are wilting and are only lasting two to three days, so parsley is already more expensive than last year." Much of the parsley the Abu Dhabi Co-operative stocks is from Jordan. Despite the ban, most supermarkets have been able to replenish stocks from other sources. "We import from other countries, such as Egypt," said V Nandakumar, the spokesman for Lulu hypermarket. "For more than four years, Lulu have kept prices of leaf items sold at 95 fils per bundle."

@Email:[e-mail] * With additional reporting by Gureni Lukwaro