ABU DHABI // A new report has ranked the UAE moderately high in food safety and protein quality, placing the country 32nd globally and third regionally.
“A moderate performance implies a score between 25 and 75,” said The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Middle East analyst. “The UAE scores at the top of this range.”
Dr Basheer Yousef, a food safety expert with Dubai Municipality, said there was a close relationship between food safety and security.
“The UAE is very keen to base food safety on risk analysis and ensure that safe and wholesome foods are not rejected based on trivial reasons,” he said. “This policy has tremendous impact on food security as it does not result in wasting food unnecessarily.”
He said he was not surprised by the UAE’s high rating. “The food safety system here is considered one of the best in the world as it takes into consideration the best practices from around the globe.”
But there is room for improvement. In four of the five indicators, including protein quality, micronutrient availability, diet diversification and nutritional standards, the UAE had scores between 65 and 70.
“This implies that the UAE does well in these areas, but not sufficiently well for this to be considered a strength,” the analyst said.
“In general, there is room for improvement in the overall nutritional quality of the diet and a need for national dietary guidelines, especially in light of the extremely high levels of diabetes in the country. In particular, the average UAE diet has low availability of iron from animal and vegetal sources and a high percentage of starchy foods, including cereals, roots and tubers.”
Dr Yousef backed this analysis.
“Safety and quality of foods could be improved through various means,” he said. “This includes scrutinising food control at the source through availing our standards and specifications to the primary and secondary food producers abroad to ensure that foods comply with these standards and specifications.”
But the report stated that the UAE performed well on the regulatory side in terms of quality and safety.
“The country demonstrates a strength in the fifth indicator, food safety, exhibiting a perfect score of 100 in the category,” the analyst said.
This year’s index comprised 28 indicators and covered 109 countries. It used data from a wide range of international organisations, including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank, along with the EIU’s own internal databases.
cmalek@thenational.ae