The municipality of Muscat is preparing for The Lesser Feast (Eid ul Fitr)
- Intensified inspection campaigns to monitor food
- slaughtering 14 cattle heads and doubling working hours in slaughter houses
- Importing more than 11 ton of vegetables and fruits
The Muscat municipality has proceeded the preparations for The Lesser Feast (Eid ul Fitr) within all of its service units to assure providing suitable and high-quality services to the people. Dr. Shawqy, the head of the slaughter houses administration in Muscat municipality, said that all arrangements have been made to receive a huge number of slaughters as convenient for the public in terms of maintenance of electrical and mechanic machinery and providing all the equipments required for the work. Slaughter rooms are prepared and supplied with equipments required to assure fasr and high-quality work. Slaughter houses have been supplied with a large number of labor force and vets to check the cattle and make sure they`re in good shape as soon as it enters the slaughter house and before slaughter. The central slaughter horse doubled working hours to meet the demand of the public . He mentioned that the municipality slaughter houses have slaughtered 14 thousand heads of sheep and cattle; 160 of which are cows and 2100 are cattle and cows in Al Ma`abeela slaughter house.
The central slaughter house also provides the service of buying freshly slaughtered ready meet. That is to save time and energy of the buyer. The slaughter house management, in cooperation with Australian cattle companies, has provided ready slaughtered meat and the the weight of carcass ranges between 22 - 24 Kgs.
in an attempt to maintain the health and safety of the public, the central slaughter house had launched an awareness campaign to reflect the importance of slaughtering in slaughter houses under the supervision of specialized and medical staff to check cattle before slaughter to assure that it`s safe of diseases, as well as to increase the awareness of diseases that are transmitted by slaughtering along with tips how to keep meat and transfer it to assure its safety of consumption, that is through sending SMS and posts on social media websites through the page of Muscat communication center.
The central slaughter house has dedicated two working shifts; one in the morning and one in the evening to have the capacity to contain large numbers of slaughters and provide service to customers. Work in central slaughter house starts next Wednesday at 8:30 AM to 5:30PM and night shifts begin from 10:00PM until midnight. As for the temporary slaughter house in Seeb, work there starts at 9:00AM until 5:00PM the same day. on Thursday, The slaughter house in Bushar starts working at 8:30AM to 3:00PM and re-opens at 8:00PM until midnight. As for the central slaughter house in Seeb, It opens at 9:00AM to 5:00PM and evening shift begins at 8:00PM until 10:00PM. on Friday, The central slaughter house in Bushar opens at 8:00AM to 11:00AM and in the afternoon it works from 2:00PM to 5:00PM and from 8:00PM until midnight. As for the Seeb`s moving slaughter house it works from 8:00AM to 10:00AM, from 2:00PM to 5:00PM and from 8:00PM to 10:00PM. on Saturdays, The central slaughter house in Bushar starts at 7:30AM to 1:30PM and from 7:30PM until midnight so as the moving slaughterhouse of Seeb which opens at 7:00AM to 2:00PM and from 4:00PM to 8:00PM on Sundays, The central slaughter house in Bushar opens at 7:30AM to 1:30PM and from 7:30 until midnight. As for the moving slaughterhouse in Seeb, Work starts from 7:00AM to 2:00PM and from 4:00PM to 8:00PM.
Houd ben Ibrahim Al Shebany, the asistant manager in Muscat municipality lab., emphasized the importance of following a number of instructions while buying meat to confirm that it`s suitable for consumption such as checking the municipality stamp on the carcass which confirms that it`s been slaughtered under the supervision of specialized doctors. as for imported frozen meat, Al Shebany advises to check the country of origin of this meat by checking the information card of every carcass, or piece of carcass, that includes country of origin, date of expiry so as to be kept in temperature that does not exceed 4 degrees. Frozen meat should be kept in a temprature that doesn`t exceed -18 degrees. He emphasised the importance of having the consumer present at the time of cuting or grinding meat to confirm its ***. he also mentioned some notes that the consumer should know to make sure that he is buying fresh meat and avoid commecial fraud, one of which is that the meat should be generally bright red and not changed into brown or gray which indicates that the meat is bad as a result of growth of some microorganisms. Meat should be more solid than soggy. and shouldn`t have any bad smells. and to make sure that the animal was slaughtered alive, Al Shebany advises to leave a piece of the meat in a cup of water. If it turned into deep red, then this is an indication that the animal was slaughtered dead. Al Shebany stressed on the importance of following the right way to keep meat. To use new plastic bags made for this purpose and not shopping bags. When preparing the meat for grilling, it`s advised to wrap it in aluminum foil keeping the shiny side from the outside to avoid reflection of heat away from the meat.
Intensive efforts for monitoring food products
Food inspection and monitoring divisions have intensified their work in all administrations in Muscat municipality during Ramadan by executing constant and surprise inspection campaigns throughout the holy month of Ramadan on different food factories and sale points to confirm that the products are suitable for consumption interms of expiry dates and abiding by the standards and conditions of food security, means of preparation and keeping food safe for the health of the consumer. experts in these devisions made 2374 inspection visits and they discovered 117 violations of health conditions and closed 4 stores. 109 Kgs of food material were distroyed, 165 food can were distoyed because it was expired as well as 16 tool that was used were distroyed because they were unfit for use in addition to distoryed 1050 (Smosa pieces) of unknown origins and was transported by unhealthly ways. inspection divisions made inspection visits to Factories of Omani Sweets.
Importing tons of fruits and vegetables
The administrations of Almawaleh Market made excessive efforts to coordinate the entry of cleaning vehicles in the market for the preparation of The Lesser Feast (Eid ul Fitr). it also coordinated with the police department of Al Khawd to send traffic officers shifts in addition to specifying routs for entry and exist of the market, providing parking spaces for people by preparing the piece of land next to the market for the purpose of providing space to 200 parking car. In an attempt to guarantee the arrival of loads of commodities to the market, It coordinated with a number of government devisions like customs office, agricultural quarantine and clearance companies representatives to finish custom clearance and check the refrigerators cars coming to the market to guarantee that the commodities sold to consumers have reached the market in the soonest time possible.
It also confirmed providing the suitable amounts of vegetables and fruits to meet the consumer`s needs and cope with the buy and sale process in the market at the time before the lesser feast (Eid ul Fitr). The companies working in the market increased the number of trucks coming to the market to meet consumer`s needs. The number of trucks that will come from July 1st - 13th is 594 truck loaded with 11880 ton of differents types of vegetables and fruits.
Also Al Mawaleh market has witnessed 2440 visits during Ramadan by specialists from different devisions of the municipality followed by filing 6 violations and destroying 117014 Kgs of fruits and vegetables not suitable for consumption
Market Business hours
The market management set working hours for the main umbrella and the wholesale shops to be from Tuesday, 27th of Ramadan till Thursday, 29th of Ramadan 1436 (Hejrya). Business hours will begin from 6:00AM until 11:OOPM. as for Friday, 30th of Ramadan 1436 (Hejrya) working hours will be from 2:00PM until midnight. as for the retail shops, working hours will be on 2 shifts basis (morning and evening), from 6:00AM to 11:00PM from Tuesday, 27th of Ramadan to Friday 29th of Ramadan 1436 (Hejrya).