Introduction
Over the years, numerous processes have been developed to ensure that the handling and storage of food are conducted in a safe and sterile manner. These processes have been developed in response to various types of bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni, and a plethora of similar pathogens that can develop in food that has not been handled, processed, or stored properly (Baumgartner 2000, pp. 227-228). The result is cases of food poisoning which can range from mild to severe symptoms.
Condrad (2000) points out that the economic reality of countries such as Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, and China where a vast majority of the citizenry lives below the poverty line prevents the implementation of ISO 22000 safety standards given the significant extra cost that comes with the implementation of such procedures (Condrad 2000, p. 516). Furthermore, food preparation in certain cultures may seem “dirty” or “unhygienic” to Western standards, however, they have been a part of the traditional knowledge makeup of local society to such an extent that the imposition of new practices to change age-old cultural methods of food preparation is often met with significant local opposition (Al-Kandari & Jukes 2012, pp. 33-46).
Lastly, the government imposed safety measures on food storage, handling and preparation differ from country to country as evidenced by the trade restrictions on certain types of food from Asia to the Western world given the differences in food safety standards (Al-Kandari & Jukes 2012, pp. 33-46). It is based on this that this paper will examine the process of food inspection within Saudi Arabia, compare it to Australia which has a relatively high food inspection standard and determine what practices could be implemented for any identified problems.
The history of food poisoning in Saudi Arabia
When examining the history of food poisoning within Saudi Arabia, most of the cases of food poisoning that occur within the country go unreported to the local health care system. Tajkarimi et al. (2013) explain this by stating that within Saudi Arabia there is a greater cultural predisposition towards more “traditional” methods of dealing with a sudden sickness as compared to their counterparts within the U.S. and the U.K. (Tajkarimi et al. 2013, pp. 116-123). An individual that suffers from food poisoning is unlikely to travel to a local hospital, get diagnosed, and have the case subsequently reported. It is more likely for them to turn towards traditional cures such as herbal teas, traditional medicine, and other similar practices that have been around for hundreds of years (Tajkarimi et al. 2013, pp. 116-123). The result is that it becomes harder to track where instances of food poisoning occur given that it often goes undiagnosed with relatively few people going to local hospitals to be cured.
The earliest known records which indicate a case of food poisoning date back to 1411 – 1422 when 186 – 482 cases of food poisoning occurred (Tajkarimi et al. 2013, pp. 116-123). Such records are rather sketchy given the general unfamiliarity of the native people regarding how food poisoning occurs through foodborne pathogens and cross-contamination. Through the work of El-Sheikh, El-Assouli et al. (1998) which examined the instances when food poisoning would occur within Saudi Arabia, it was noted that June to August was the prime months in which most of the cases of food poisoning were reported.
June to August is the point in time when students within the country are on their summer break and a lot of families tend to spend their time outside of their respective homes and go out to various malls, cultural sites, and outdoor locations (El-Sheikh et al. 1998, p. 3). Given the proliferation of outdoor food stalls in such areas and increased levels of demand due to more customers, this generally leads to poor hygiene conditions when it comes to food preparation. Such a problem is further compounded by the hot weather at this point which would cause bacteria to multiply quickly (El-Sheikh et al. 1998, p. 3). A correlation can be seen between an increase in the number of food poisoning cases and the level of exposure the population has too high levels of summer heat and the unhygienic practices of outdoor food vendors.
Another aspect of Saudi Arabia’s history with food poisoning comes during the Hajj and Umrah seasons (periods of religious observance to the religion of Islam) wherein data over the past 12 years shows 44 to 132 cases of food poisoning (that are reported at least) during this period of religious observance (El-Sheikh et al. 1998, p. 3). Similar to the earlier case of the June to August summer holidays, Gassem (1999) states that it is the exposure of pilgrims to the various outdoor stalls that cause instances of food poisoning to occur. Gassem (1999) explains that a large majority of Hajj pilgrims tend to have limited monetary resources and have to rely on the generally cheap food found in the various outdoor food stalls in and around Mecca.
The inherent problem with such a situation is that there is an insufficient level of government regulation in the storage and preparation of food in outdoor eating establishments which leads to a higher risk of food poisoning (Gassem 1999, pp. 221-225). A contributing problem to such a situation is that Hajj pilgrims usually come from different regions in the Middle East and some even come from different countries (Gassem 1999, pp. 221-225). As a result, when they consume food that has been exposed to local bacteria their systems tend to respond negatively to the exposure which causes them to become ill (Gassem 1999, pp. 221-225).
From this section, it can be seen that there is an observable and repetitive cycle in Saudi Arabia’s experience with food poisoning. This would normally make it easier to detect and eliminate such problems before they occur since officials within the government would know when cases of food poisoning would be most likely to occur. Such ease of detection and elimination is regrettably not present in the current food inspection system within Saudi Arabia. The following section will explain the current challenges in applying food inspection within Saudi Arabia and why they continue to occur till this point in time despite historic data showing the exact periods and cause of a majority of food poisoning cases within the country.
Challenges in Applying Food Inspection in Saudi Arabia
Informal Eating Establishments
One of the challenges in establishing proper food inspection practices within Saudi Arabia is the proliferation of “informal” eating establishments around the country. Informal eating establishments can be defined as small family-owned businesses that act as small mobile restaurants. They are normally found in various tourism locations, popular outdoor bazaars, and various other locations where low-income individuals congregate. Such establishments are unregulated and rarely have the necessary documentation to show that they are legally allowed to sell food (Alsewailem 2009, pp. 77-86).
These informal eating establishments are a part of Saudi Arabia’s social phenomena and cannot be easily removed due to the possibility of considerable public anger due to the current view that such establishments are necessary to provide food to those who cannot afford to eat in the various restaurants in the country (Ali 2008, p. 72). While this report is not attempting to disparage the social utility that these establishments provide in the form of affordable food for the masses, the fact remains that the lack of government regulation in the handling and sale of food items from these stores results in a greater likelihood of food contamination.
Awney & Sindi (2011) revealed in his examination of the local food industry within Saudi Arabia that roadside stands often have considerable problems with cross-contamination and improper handling and storing practices. This comes in the form of food being left out in the open air for display, store owners handling raw and cooked food at the same time as well as the distinct lack of any form of refrigeration to kill bacteria resulting in the high heat of outdoor environments encouraging the development of bacteria on exposed food (Awney & Sindi 2010, pp. 192-203). These establishments often lack the necessary equipment to cook food to such an extent that the risk of infection through bacteria is removed (El-Sehrawi & Mahdy 1997, p. 317; Lee 2010, pp. 588-598).
Items such as small outdoor gas stoves are common sights among such stores yet the amount of heat generated from them is at times insufficient to be able to cook food thoroughly. Combined with the number of people that arrive during lunchtime and the fact that these places are often undermanned shows how cases of food poisoning increase during the summer months within Saudi Arabia as a direct result of such practices (El-Sehrawi & Mahdy 1997, p. 317).
Insufficient Workforce
As mentioned in the previous section of this report, Saudi Arabia is reliant on regional/international food imports to sustain its population. With such reliance and the subsequent increase in the amount of food imported as the regional population grows, comes the need for increasing levels of inspection of imported raw and processed food (Al-Kanhal et al. 1998, p. 193). An examination of Saudi Arabia’s SASO has revealed that within the past 15 years the number of people within its workforce has remained the same despite the increased demand for their services (Al-Kanhal et al. 1998, p. 193). This has enabled multiple shipments of food to go uninspected resulting in an increased possibility for tainted items to be distributed to the country’s citizenry.
This aspect of Saudi Arabia’s food inspection practices is disconcerting given that one of its major trading partners for food imports is China which has had a history of shipping tainted goods to the U.S. only for them to be turned down due to the apparent presence of high levels of bacterial contamination and the use of preservatives that were never meant to be used on food.
Lack of Standardized Testing for Food Samples
The last challenge for food inspection within the country is the lack of standards for food sampling procedures when it comes to examining both imports and local products. Based on the report of Bhuian (2000) which delved into Saudi Arabia’s food processing industry, it was seen that food inspectors had no idea on what specific types of food need to sample when they were supposed to be examined, the number of samples to take and the general procedure in actually getting a sample in the first place (Bhuian 2000, p. 39). The result is the development of an insufficient level of food inspection to the extent that nearly 90% of possible contaminated food goes unnoticed by local food inspectors (Bhuian 2000, p. 39).
From this section, it can be seen that Saudi Arabia has considerable challenges in applying proper food inspection practices within the country. These challenges are primarily process-related wherein considerable improvements need to be made to how government agencies approach the method by which they inspect and allow food to be served to the general public. When taking into consideration the various challenges to food inspection, it thus brings up the question of how such challenges impact the food quality within Saudi Arabia as a whole and whether they are a significant contributing factor towards the various cases of food poisoning the occur within the country.
Food Quality within Saudi Arabia
Food quality standards with Saudi Arabia can be described as a haphazard combination of food items that have been prepared under meticulous quality standards with other food items that have been made under questionable hygienic principles. Such a description is based on the income disparity within Saudi Arabia wherein 25% of the population lives below the poverty line with the remaining 50 to 60 percent being comprised of various levels of the working and middle classes. High-quality food items that are prepared under strict standards are normally seen in establishments that are frequented by the middle and working class.
For the remaining 25 percent of the population, many of them have had to rely on food that has been prepared in informal eating establishments or utilizing traditional methods of cooking within Saudi Arabia which have been noted by studies such as those by Abulreesh & Organji (2011) as being highly susceptible towards contamination. This can be seen in the case of Salmonella which has been the primary cause of food poisoning outbreaks within the region as far back as 1985 when it was first identified (Abulreesh & Organji 2011, pp. 510-523). Al-Rethaiaa et al. (2010) explain that from the period of 1991 to 1996 Salmonella was responsible for nearly 33 percent of all food poisoning related outbreaks within Saudi Arabia and was also responsible for 12 of the 15 outbreaks that occurred between 1995 to 2002 (Al-Rethaiaa et al. 2010, pp. 39-48).
The abundance of outbreaks where Salmonella is the primary cause is indicative of some overarching factor that is influencing the growth of this specific type of bacteria (Abulreesh & Organji 2011, pp. 510-523). One way in which this report has narrowed down the origin of the problem was through an examination of the local fast-food culture within Saudi Arabia from the early 1990s till 2002.
It was seen that during this period chicken shawarma was a popular local fast food and was sold in abundance on numerous outdoor stalls. Abulreesh & Organji (2011) revealed that chicken shawarma has a high potential for food poisoning. This is because the method in which it is cooked (i.e. slowly and from a distance fails to directly kill the bacteria as compared to pan-frying the chicken) promoted the tainting of the food since often Salmonella survived the slow way in which the chicken was cooked out in the open (Abulreesh & Organji 2011, pp. 510-523).
Combined with severe cross-contamination, the exposure of raw ingredients to open-air as well as inadequate methods of storage leads to shawarma stands being veritable breeding grounds for salmonella (Abulreesh & Organji 2011, pp. 510-523).
When taking into consideration the cultural popularity of chicken shawarma at the time and even now as well as its overall level of affordability, it can be deduced the outbreaks of Salmonella between 1985 to 2002 is almost entirely attributed to the inadequate methods of food hygienic food preparation of chicken shawarma (Abulreesh & Organji 2011, pp. 510-523). Further examination of the food quality standards within the country reveals that there is a distinct difference between the quality of food found in Saudi Arabia’s principal cities such as Riyadh as compared to its rural outlying regions. This was seen in the practices in food preparation and storage between rural and urban households. Mahfouz et al. (2011) noted that rural households had a greater predilection towards unhygienic storage practices such as keep raw and cooked food within the same container.
Other notable practices came in the form of insufficient levels of refrigeration, lax methods of ensuring that food has been properly cleansed of bacteria before use in cooking a dish as well as insufficient methods of cleaning and storing the items utilized in food preparation. Such practices would lead to considerable levels of cross-contamination resulting in a greater likelihood of food poisoning. Food quality in the case of urban residents on the other hand was shown to be in line with Western standards of hygiene and food preparation which Mahfouz et al. (2011) notes as primarily being the result of greater levels of educational awareness among the urban populace. The consumption of low-quality food items such as chicken shawarma, which has been shown by this paper as being the cause for most of the cases of Salmonella among members of the local population, is lower among members of urban population sets given their access to a more diverse amount of food items as compared to their rural counterparts.
One cultural aspect of Saudi Arabia that impacts food quality and promotes bacterial infection is the common use of hands to eat food. In Saudi Arabia, it is common for people to eat food by primarily using their hands. This is a common cultural practice in various parts of the world and is a dominant feature of Saudi Arabia’s domestic culture. Such a method of consumption though promotes the spread of bacterial infection due to the possibility of a person having held an item that had been previously contaminated. Another cultural practice that should be taken into consideration is that it is also common for members of the same family to eat from the same communal dish utilizing their hands to transfer food from one plate to another. Such a practice also promotes the spread of bacteria since the hands are one of the most common areas where a considerable amount of bacteria and their toxic residue can be found.
Based on what has been presented in this section so far, it can be seen that a large percentage of Saudi Arabia’s food poisoning problems can be attributed to lax food safety standards (The puzzle of self-reported weight gain in a month of fasting (Ramadan) among a cohort of Saudi families in Jeddah, Western Saudi Arabia 2011, pp. 84-91). The following section will examine what food safety practices are utilized by the general public and how do they measure to international standards.
Available Food Safety Practices
Food safety practices for street food vendors within Saudi Arabia are limited to hand washing, regular bathing, and the washing of utensils. Many of the local vendors are unaware that food safety practices are compromised of mere personal hygiene practices and ensuring the utensils are clean, rather, it extends to how food is cooked and handled.
Moutz et al. (2012) in their study which surveyed the food safety measures implemented among Saudi Arabia’s food vendors revealed that out of the 50 vendors that they examined 52 percent agreed that washing one’s hands regularly was an important part of food safety. 74 percent of those surveyed indicated that regular bathing was an important practice for people serving food while 76 percent of all the vendors surveyed agreed that regularly washing utensils was an important aspect of proper food safety practices (Moutz et al. 2012, p.119-128). While the Moutz et al. (2012) study does show a certain level of awareness among food vendors regarding the need for proper personal hygiene.
Moutz et al. (2012) noted that many of them lacked knowledge regarding what constituted food contamination. It was discovered that all the vendors that were surveyed considered food contaminants as either being spices, flavors, or various types of colors that were added to the food that would change the recipe. Vendors considered putting the wrong spices, the wrong flavors, or the wrong type of food coloring as their version of contamination. They had no awareness regarding bacteria that could develop on tainted food. There was next to no awareness whatsoever regarding bacterial infections, food poisoning through the consumption of tainted food, proper handling and storage procedures as well as an assortment of other practices that are industry standards in other parts of the world. On a local level, vendors simply had no knowledge that some of the food preparation and storage practices that they engage in could result in food poisoning.
Delving deeper into the issue, Moutz et al. (2012) were able to determine that only 38 percent of the vendors had a primary school education with the rest having little if any, educational background whatsoever. Through such a discovery, the origin of the minimal food safety standards employed by street vendors becomes obvious. These individuals simply did not know any better and were merely following what they were taught regarding how to prepare a dish.
They lack awareness of the fact that storing raw and cooked meat together can cause cross-contamination, they fail to realize that leaving food out in the open and not reheating it can cause the development of bacteria, lastly, they fail to realize that simply washing and bathing is not enough to ensure that the food you serve is clean and safe to eat. To verify whether the current level of education and the minimal level of food safety employed by street vendors did result in tainted food, Moutz et al. (2012) collected food samples from each vendor and placed them in sterile containers to prevent outside contamination. When these samples were examined in the lab the following types of bacteria were identified from the samples:
- Salmonella
- E. Coli
- Bacillus spp.
- Staphylococcus aureus
These particular variations of bacteria were elaborated early on within this paper as among the primary sources of food poisoning in other parts of the world. Since they were found in varying levels in all samples that were taken from the food vendors, this is indicative of a major food safety practice issue wherein Saudi Arabian street food is tainted to the extent that its consumption could have serious health repercussions for the general population.
To determine whether such a problem was endemic to the food industry of Saudi Arabia as a whole, the study of Sharif & Al-Malki (2010) was utilized to determine whether mid to high-end restaurants within cities such as Riyadh were similarly affected. The study of Sharif & Al-Malki (2010) shows that fast-food restaurants and high-end eating establishments within the city were relatively free from any problems related to food contamination. Sharif & Al-Malki (2010) explains that due to stringent food safety practices in the form of proper storage, food preparation, and the automation of particular methods of cooking, such restaurants were relatively free from instances of contamination.
Sharif & Al-Malki (2010) notes that family-owned restaurants within the city that are not high-end establishments or a fast-food enterprise were noted as being ignorant of some aspects of food safety. While proper hygiene was practiced by all the workers involved, there were cases where refrigerators were not set at a high enough temperature, warm food was transferred from the kitchen to refrigeration units and back again for reheating and there were cases where raw food that should have been thrown out due to being past its prime was merely washed off and used in dishes that were served to consumers (Sharif & Al-Malki 2010, pp. 55-60). These practices would normally be grounds for immediate closure by the department of health in other parts of the world but are endemic within Saudi Arabia given lax inspection standards, lack of sufficient knowledge regarding how food can be tainted due to irresponsible processing, and how restaurants focus on profit instead of on the health and well-being of their customers.
From this section, it can be seen that the issue of food safety within the country can be resolved if proper methods of education can be implemented among all members of the foodservice industry, informal or otherwise, to ensure that the food that is being served to the general public is not tainted to the extent that it could cause a possible fatality in the future. The next section will examine the current trade and safety measures currently in place within Saudi Arabia to determine whether the issue is merely an inspection issue and insufficient public awareness, or if lax safety measures are an endemic practice within the government.
Food industry and Trade–Safety measures
Safety measures within Saudi Arabia for food safety come in the form of official food control laboratories within specific regions. The specific purpose of these laboratories is to provide support to food inspectors and the police through the provision of high-quality testing of possible food contaminants. Despite possessing some of the best equipped and adequately supplied analysis laboratories in the world, Saudi Arabia suffers from a shortage of skilled analysts among its ranks (Chalak & Abiad 2012, pp. 81-92). Despite the presence of advanced scientific equipment, few within the laboratories know how to use the equipment and even fewer know how to properly perform a diagnosis on a sample that has been brought in.
Another noticeable problem was the lack of quality assurance systems presents within the country meant to ensure a standard of food quality for food products that enter or are produced within the country’s various regions. Lastly, there are no international laboratory accreditation bodies within Saudi Arabia which are meant to ensure that the procedures being utilized within the country’s food laboratories are following internationally mandated standards of testing or are utilizing procedures that produce the best results (Chalak & Abiad 2012, pp. 81-92). This lack of ISO accreditation, possessing little in the way of trained technicians, and the absence of quality assurance systems have resulted in the country having little in the way of proper trade safety measures.
Studies such as those by Chalak & Abiad (2012) which have examined the potential this lack of sufficient trade safety in the country could have on food imports has revealed that many of the imports going into the country, specifically from China, have shown high levels of contaminants (Saudi Arabia Withdraws 1,091 Food Items for Possible Contamination 2009, p.1). This comes in the form of illegal preservatives, low-quality methods of storage, and some foods which have shown the start of bacterial growth. Saudi Arabia needs to address these issues within the next few years otherwise continued shipments of tainted products may continue to arrive within the country (Saudi Arabia Withdraws 1,091 Food Items for Possible Contamination 2009, p.1).
The Level of Hygienic awareness in Saudi Arabia
Hygienic awareness within Saudi Arabia is divided into rural and urban lines. It can be seen that differences in the areas where a person was raised and brought up impacted their view regarding proper hygiene standards and, as a result, their susceptibility towards the consumption of tainted food products. Observational studies such as those by Mahfouz et al. (2011), which examined areas where the consumption of tainted food items was more likely, showed that rural areas showed a greater number of cases as compared to their urban counterparts.
Mahfouz et al. (2011) theorize that the difference between the two population sets is a direct result of different levels of awareness regarding the process by which food becomes tainted within bacteria. Mahfouz et al (2011) go on to explain that the rapid urbanization of cities such as Riyadh, has resulted in higher levels of demand for various types of hygiene products as well as food that has been produced in a clean and safe environment (Mahfouz et al. 2011, pp. 318-322). This predilection for urban populations to purchase more hygiene products and demand clean food as compared to their rural counterparts is explained by Washi (2001) as being due to greater levels of social awareness regarding the dangers of unhygienic practices brought about through government efforts in educating the public.
Information from the World Health Organization shows that within the past 8 years Saudi Arabia has embarked on a nationwide campaign on informing the general public regarding proper hygienic standards and how food poisoning can occur through the consumption of tainted food items that have not been properly handled or processed (Washi 2001, p. 17). Despite the best efforts of the government, general awareness has been concentrated more in urban centers rather than in rural areas which have created mixed results for the campaign. Individuals coming from rural areas to urban population centers often lack the same level of general knowledge regarding proper hygienic standards as compared to urban dwellers resulting in unhygienic practices being mixed with hygienic ones.
Other problems that have been noted within the Saudi Arabian populace come in the form of disparities in demand wherein low-income families and individuals were shown to be less likely to purchase the same amount of hygienic products as compared to middle income to high-income families (Harrigan 1998, pp. 177-189). Mutlu et al. (2010) explain that differences in income levels affect the predilection for particular sets of the population to purchase hygienic food or not. It was seen that people with low incomes simply could not afford the same types of food that were handled and produced according to proper health procedures. Low-income population sets were also noted as the most likely to patronize informal eating establishments such as street vendors and food cards which made them the most likely to be affected by the insufficient food preparation practices that these establishments utilize (Mutlu et al. 2010, pp. 131-136). It is not uncommon for death to result from infected food with children and the elderly often succumbing to foodborne pathogens due to their weaker immune systems.
The Saudi Arabian government tried to curb such problems through agencies such as the Saudi Arabia Standards Organization (SASO) to set specific standards in the handling of raw animal and vegetables as well as their subsequent processed by-products, however, it has largely failed in rural areas as well as in areas within the city wherein individuals from rural populations congregate and eat from street carts and other informal establishments. International standards such as ISO 22000 has been considered by the Saudi Arabian government to ensure that “across the board standardization of food safety practices” are implemented to ensure that food, no matter where it is made or consumed, is set to a particular standard of handling and processing to ensure that it is safe to eat. Such attempts have been implemented to ensure that proper handling, storage, and processing standards are in place. Despite such efforts, there is still a significant level of divergence in food safety standards seen at the local and regional level.
Analysis of Food Inspection in Saudi Arabia
Through an examination of food inspection standards within Saudi Arabia, it is revealed that despite the country possessing an industrialized and quickly developing economy with significant oil wealth, various control systems related to raw food and their by-products are substandard and completely inadequate in being able to address the various contamination concerns that were shown in the previous section (Sharif & Al-Malki 2010, pp. 55-60). Food inspection standards within Saudi Arabia are primarily set by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), which regulates the flow of imports and local food, as well as administers the necessary policies regarding their storage and handling.
The SFDA also handles all aspects related to food safety licensing procedures which are necessary for any formal food retail establishment within Saudi Arabia to sell food (Sharif & Al-Malki 2010, pp. 55-60). The inherent problem with the current system is that despite the SFDA creating a clear framework on how to ensure proper food inspection and proper food quality, the implementation of proper food control management is not subject to SFDA authority; rather, the responsibility lies with the Saudi Arabia Standards Organization (SASO).
Such an organization is composed of multiple levels of committees, administrators, and agencies that operate on a local and regional level (Al-Rethaiaa et al. 2010, pp. 39-48). The problem with the present situation is that the SASO is considered to be highly inefficient given a lack of internal coordination, duplication of duties, an insufficient system for information management as well as having next to no information sharing between the various agencies, departments, and committees (Sharif & Al-Malki 2010, pp. 55-60). The result is the development of a system that is highly inefficient in actually being able to inspect food within different localities and regions since each aspect of the organization is unaware of what the other departments are doing and what procedures should be followed in particular cases (Al-Kandari & Jukes 2012, pp. 33-46).
Through studies such as those by Al-Daghri et al. (2011), it can be seen that food inspection within Saudi Arabia primarily consists of laboratory examination of imported products as well as a physical examination of food items in restaurants. While standards of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) have been introduced within the country over the past decade, the fact remains that the actual implementation of such standards is low or next to nonexistent (Al-Kandari & Jukes 2012, pp. 33-46).
Through this section, it can be seen that Saudi Arabia suffers from considerable problems in its organizational structure which leads to an inefficient and ineffective means of food inspection. Thus, the lack of proper food control mechanisms, a lack of awareness of the general public regarding food safety as well as improper food safety standards can all be attributed to problems with the organizations that are meant to ensure that food is safe to be eaten within the country. To determine the severity of the issue and develop an effective means of addressing it, the following section regarding the methods of food inspection of Australia will enable the creation of a greater understanding of what Saudi Arabia lacks and how proper reforms in food inspection can be implemented.
Current State of Food Inspection in Australia
Food inspection within Australia can be described as stringent, meticulous, and utilizes a multi-department approach to handle the process of food inspection.
Importing Food into Australia
Any individual or company that wishes to import food into Australia has to deal with the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) (Birks 2003, p. 47,). The main role of the AQIS is to ensure that all food entering into the country, processed or otherwise, meets the specifications outline by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) based on a product’s possible Bio-security threat to the local populace or locally grown or raised agricultural products.
Bio-security entails an examination of all incoming food to ensure that it is free from biological threats that could be harmful (Food and trust in Australia: building a picture 2008, pp. 237-245). This includes, but is not limited to, mites, foot and mouth disease, E. Coli, various bacterial strands that specifically impact particular plant varieties, Salmonella, as well as an assortment of other possible biological/chemical contaminants that could create an adverse effect for the local populace (Hayman, Baxter, O’Riordan & Cynthia 2004, pp. 1709-1718).
It is through the implementation of bio-security measures in the form of isolation, randomized selection, stringent laboratory testing procedures, inspection by on-site food inspectors as well as an examination of the bill of landing (i.e. port of origin of the product) to determine whether there have been any recent developments in such areas that might bring contaminants into Australia (Martin et al. 2003, p. 429).
While Australia’s Imported Food Inspection Program also has normal requirements for imported products such as having proper labeling to indicate the ingredients, additives, and country of origin, it also has stringent requirements involving metals and various contaminants within the food itself which should not exceed several parts per million, otherwise, the food product is labeled as contaminated and not allowed to enter into the country (Healy et al. 2003, p. 357).
Food Retailer Inspections
In Australia, all premises where food is handled and served to the general public are subject to a bi-annual process of inspection to ensure that the establishment complies with the Food Act of 2003, the Food Regulation Policy of 2010, and the Food Standards of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) (Khandaker & Alauddin 2005, pp. 767-782). Mobile food carts within the country are inspected once a year while temporary food stands that are put up due to a local event are inspected during the event to ensure that the proper process of handling and storing food is being done (Horchner & Pointon 2011, pp. 1674-1688).
For restaurant inspections, food inspectors are allowed to enter and investigate an area under the Food Act of 2003, to ensure compliance with set food regulations (Roberts & Deery 2004, pp. 151-159). These inspectors utilize a wide range of factors to determine whether a restaurant is preparing food in a manner that prevents contamination. Issues that are normally investigated range from: the overall cleanliness of the restaurant, whether the temperature of their refrigeration units are within range for proper food storage as well as examining whether employees follow proper hygienic practices (Horchne et al. 2006, pp. 497-510). Other factors that are normally investigated come in the form of the pest control practices of the restaurant, the maintenance of the restaurant and its equipment, their waste storage practices, their on-site inspection of the food, and lastly, an investigation of the food handling practices of the employees to determine whether any danger of cross-contamination could occur (Hobbs et al. 2002, p. 77).
In some Australian districts, free online safety seminars are also provided for restaurant owners and employees alike which enables them to learn about the various means by which food can be tainted, what practices must be followed to prevent contamination and how can a food retailer comply with the established rules and guidelines set by the Australian government (Horchner et al. 2006, pp. 497-510). In Australia, 3 specific safety regulations deal with all the necessary procedures for the handling of food products: the Food Act of 2001, the Food Regulation Act of 2002, and the Food Standards Code.
Through these specific guidelines, both food inspectors and restaurant owners know what to look for or implement to ensure that all food that is processed within a particular establishment is safe for the general public to eat (Interfax 2011, p. 1).
From this analysis of Australia’s food inspection services, it can be seen that what is needed in the case of Saudi Arabia in the development of an adequate organizational structure in the form of an information system that can help to create a means by which proper methods of evaluation and inspection for food can be established. Such a system would create a series of rules and regulations that replicate what can be seen in the case of Australia. After which they will be imposed in the case of Saudi Arabia for food inspectors to examine and utilize in their inspections. To better understand what will be necessary for such a system the next section will compare the food inspection practices of Saudi Arabia with Australia. Through such a comparison, the deficiencies within the Saudi Arabian food inspection system will become more apparent.
Comparison to Food Inspection in Saudi Arabia
Comparing the food inspection practices of Saudi Arabia and that of Australia shows a clear disparity between the two cases. Saudi Arabian inspectors rely primarily on visual confirmation and just the health code license of a particular establishment as compared to Australian food inspectors who meticulously investigate aspects related to temperature, handling methods, storage, cleanliness as well as other factors that impact how food is processed and served to the public.
Contributing to such a practice, Australia has implemented a method of actively investigating informal eating establishments such as food carts and food stands which is a practice not seen within Saudi Arabia. The presence of a predetermined schedule of investigation on a bi-annual basis also shows a clear disparity between Saudi Arabia and Australia wherein the Saudi counterparts of the Australian food inspectors have a set schedule and examine on a “when available” basis (Parker 2010, 1-10).
When comparing the process of inspecting the importation of food products, it can be seen that Australia has a far more stringent system in the form of the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) which does extensive laboratory testing and food inspection processes to determine whether imported food is dangerous for the local population or not. Despite the presence of state of the art laboratories within Saudi Arabia, the fact that there are no regulations similar to this and the fact that all matters related to food inspection are handled primarily by the SASO with a significant overlap of duties among inspectors is indicative of a major problem that Saudi Arabia needs to address (Parker 2010, 1-10). There needs to be a clear separation of duties between food inspectors that handle imports and those that do food retailer investigations to ensure that more care and attention can be provided (Parker 2010, 1-10).
Other problems come in the form of insufficient government support in the way of policy and food regulation to create an outline of approved practices such as the Australian Food Act of 2001, the Food Regulation Act of 2002, and the Food Standards Code. If such regulatory practices were to be implemented in the case of Australia, food inspectors can utilize this as a framework for the investigation to ensure that proper compliance with regulatory practices is done. Restaurant, cart, and food stand owners can similarly utilize such regulatory principles as a means of ensuring the quality of the food that they serve to the general public (Parker 2010, 1-10).
One way of ensuring compliance would be to imitate the processes utilized by Australia wherein seminars are conducted to provide restaurant owners and food vendors alike with the proper knowledge on how to properly prepare, store and serve food to their customers. By making such seminars a requirement for food retailers within Saudi Arabia has the potential to significantly lower instances of food poisoning within the country.
The Implementation of Programs like HACCP
Through the work of Abd-Elhaleem & Abd-Elkarim (2011) which examined food safety standards in various countries, it was noted that ISO 22000 standards were mainly implemented in Western countries such as the U.S., U.K., and in various parts of Europe as compared to various parts of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, and North-East Asia. To understand why such a level of divergence existed in the case of Saudi Arabia, the researcher examined the work of Abd-Elhaleem & Abd-Elkarim (2011) noted that while the internalization of food safety standards such as ISO 22000 and its derivative ISO 9000 is a worthwhile practice to pursue, the fact remains that differences in cultural practices, safety standards, and local economies prevent ISO 22000 from actually being implemented on a universal level within the country (Abd-Elhaleem & Abd-Elkarim 2011, pp. 505-515). For example, many of the cultural food items within the country such as shawarma, murtabak, and kabsa are often cooked slowly in open-air environments which increases the possibility of food poisoning.
In the case of implementing HACCP (Hazard analysis and critical control points) in Saudi Arabia, it should be noted that the country has entered into numerous trade and food safety partnerships with its neighbor, the U.A.E, to create regional safety standards in the import and export of food products between the two regions. The SASO has entered into numerous agreements with the U.A.E in ensuring that agricultural products from Saudi Arabia to the U.A.E follow HACCP compliance to prevent any form of contamination. While HACCP has been implemented to a certain degree involving regional exports, it cannot be stated that it is the same when it comes to imports and local food production. The problem with implementing programs such as HACCP as explained by Abd-Elhaleem & Abd-Elkarim (2011) is that there are insufficient levels of understanding by local government officials over what comprises proper food safety standards. There is also an unwillingness to “rock the boat” so to speak by members of the local legislature in implementing more stringent methods of food protection due to the presence of traditionalists who are protecting local industries. Combined with a lack of sufficient public demand for more stringent food safety measures, this has resulted in processes such as HACCP from being effectively being implemented on a local level.
Food legislation in Gulf countries
Due to the limited capacity for Gulf countries to sustain themselves agriculturally, nearly 80 percent of all food products within the Middle East are imported from other countries. On average, nearly 10 to 15 million tons of imported food make it to various Middle Eastern countries with Saudi Arabia accounting for 20 to 30 percent of local demand. It is due to this that Saudi Arabia and other members of the GCC (i.e. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the U.A.E) are attempting to implement region-wide legislative regulations in the form of uniform laws involving food to ensure that imported products are safe for consumers to purchase and consume.
Aside from regulations banning alcohol and pork from being found in any imported products (at least those without special certificates), other legislative measures come in the form of proper food labeling practices where the brand, the ingredients which have to be arranged according to weight or volume, the name and address of the manufacturer, the product’s net weight or volume, batch number, and country of origin must be present on each imported product. Other legislation involving food safety measures within Gulf countries involves the need for all products to come with an accompanying health certificate to show that before being exported the product had undergone strict quality testing procedures. This includes a label indicating “Halal” to ensure that the process used in making the food complies with the Islamic belief system.
Despite such regulations, in the case of Saudi Arabia, the insufficient levels of training among food inspectors made many tainted products get through such screening methods. This is indicative of the need to develop food inspectors in such a way that they are better trained and more capable administrators of food imports into Saudi Arabia.
Qualifications of Responsible Authorities of inspection in Saudi Arabia
Food inspectors within Saudi Arabia primarily rely on a visual inspection of food items rather than conduct on-site testing procedures to determine whether the food that is being served is in line with proper hygienic principles (Al-Daghri et al. 2011, pp. 76-81). Studies on proper hygienic practices in the restaurant industry such as those by Awney (2011) state that visual analysis of raw and processed food items is often the poorest method of determining whether the food that is being served to customers is free from contamination.
Awney (2011) explains that restaurants can often cut a piece of meat or rinse off a piece of chicken to make it look fresh and contaminant free. Thus, merely looking at raw goods and their finished result rarely produces any substantial analysis to determine whether they are fit for human consumption (Awney 2011, pp. 295-302). On-site inspections involving bacterial content analysis of the food as well as a texture, smell, and moisture level examination of raw food is the best way of determining whether food is contaminated with bacteria. Other methods of examination involve an examination of storage, employee hygiene, and handling methods to determine whether significant levels of cross occur (Washi & Ageib 2010, pp. 527-534).
In the case of Saudi Arabia, food inspectors rarely, if ever, conduct a thorough examination of the area where food is prepared and neglect to perform a substantial enough job of inspecting the food itself (Lippman 2010, pp. 90-98). They often rely on an examination of previously issued health certificates and a facility license before moving on to the next site for inspection. The problem in this situation is that a restaurant health certificate is in no way a proper indicator of whether tainted food is being served to the public or if it is free from contaminants.
It is merely a method to show that the facility is fit for people to utilize but health certificates in Saudi Arabia fail to inspect the method of food processing (Lippman 2010, pp. 90-98). The fact that health inspectors just visually examine the food, look at the health certificate and facility license then move on is indicative of a major flaw in the training procedures for health inspectors within the country that would need to be corrected if Saudi Arabia would have any chance at resolving various instances of food poisoning that occur.
One of the reasons behind this primarily visual method of an inspection lies in the fact that food inspectors within Saudi Arabia do not have the same level of training as compared to their counterparts in Australia. In fact, due to the lack of manpower of the SFDA and the overlapping of duties, it is often the case that a person can be a food inspector one day and can be a building inspector the next. This creates serious problems in terms of actually having qualified personal do a proper and thorough inspection of food as compared to someone who barely knows what he is doing.
The need for training of both the food inspectors and industrial workers
Based on the food safety procedures and food inspection within Saudi Arabia that were showcased, it can be seen that considerable levels of training need to be implemented for food inspectors and food industry workers when it comes to proper food safety standards.
Need for better food safety education
This report has shown that there is a general level of ignorance on the part of food industry workers and inspectors regarding proper food safety. They are unaware of aspects related to cross-contamination, proper storage procedures, how bacteria can develop on exposed food, and the necessity of disposing of spoiled batches instead of re-using them. The researcher proposes that training in the form of standardized education and testing before receiving a license on being a food industry worker, or a food inspector is necessary to mitigate this problem.
This comes in the form of various workshops that potential food industry workers and food inspectors must attend that will teach them various food safety procedures and to embed the necessary fears related to food contamination. While more in-depth workshops would be necessary for food inspectors, food industry workers must be taught to realize that present-day practices within the food services industry in Saudi Arabia must change otherwise the potential for more widespread outbreaks of food poisoning may occur.
Development of On-site/ Laboratory Testing Training for Food Inspectors
Another of the identified problems within this paper is the lack of on-site laboratory testing for food inspectors to help identify whether the food that is being served at a particular establishment is tainted or not. Zaglool et al. (2011) explain that the predilection for inspectors to rely on visual rather than on-site/laboratory testing data deters the possibility of effective testing from being conducted either in a restaurant or in a food cart. It was noted that food inspectors within Saudi Arabia had no training on how to read reports on the level of contamination on tainted food items nor had the training to be able to conduct the testing themselves within a controlled setting (Zaglool et al. 2011, pp. 266-270).
Based on this, it is necessary to implement a broader series of training for members of the SASO that deal with investigating food-related issues. Another problem that was noted by Zaglool et al. (2011) was that this apparent lack of training on the part of food inspectors was in part due to the overlapping of duties wherein employees of the SASO also performed duties related to the building inspection, property inspection, electrical inspection and other similar methods of investigation. This was initially conceived as a method of broadening the organization’s capacity to do its job without necessarily hiring more people to do so. The inherent problem with this methodology is that it resulted in food inspectors that were ill-suited for their responsibilities as food inspectors due to the lack of specialized training.
What is needed in the case of the SASO is the development of departments whose specific purpose is to investigate the importation and sale of food within Saudi Arabia, while at the same time providing investigators with the necessary training to do so. If such a method is implemented, there would likely be fewer cases of food poisoning within the country.
Conclusion
After comparing both Australia and Saudi Arabia based on their respective food inspection practices, it can be seen that Saudi Arabia needs to improve the organizational framework of the SFDA and SASO. This would come in the form of the creation of distinct departments meant to handle food imports and restaurant investigations. Implementation of such a tactic will improve operational efficiency and result in better food inspection practices.
Other problems that were revealed were the need to improve the training of food inspectors and laboratory technicians as well as that of the various food industry workers who lack the necessary knowledge to carry out proper food processing. If sufficient training can be implemented, it can be assumed that the number of cases of food poisoning within the country can be lessened considerably.
Recommendations
Developing Information Systems for the Saudi Arabia Standards Organization (SASO)
One of the main identified problems of Saudi Arabia’s food inspection practices came in the form of a distinct lack of information sharing and collaboration between agencies, committees, and departments of the SASO. It is based on this that this report proposes the development of an internal government information system to assist in inter-agency collaboration through the dissemination of information to improve the performance of the agency as well as ensure that food inspections have enough information on hand to do their jobs properly.
Information systems can be described as the interface between people, organizations, and technology. Such a system enables a business to accomplish a specific task or action faster and more effectively. Information systems in effect act as methods of integration for an organization which helps them to streamline specific processes so that they can be controlled, influenced, and improved when necessary.
Developing proper information systems is an essential aspect for an organization that handles a broad base of operations for, without an information system in place, an organization will be incapable of handling its resources across various locations in Saudi Arabia. Due to the varied and often complicated nature of agency operations, it becomes a necessity to streamline and integrate food inspection processes, methods of operation, services, and various other operational capacities.
A government organization charged with inspecting food on a national scale cannot operate without taking into consideration how best to allocate specific resources in determining where a food inspector needs to go, which agency branch needs the most help in dealing with a local issue, how will food inspection reports be processed and how citizen services will deal with the influx of complaints from restaurant owners who have been shown as failing proper food standards. Government organizations that deal with food inspection require an efficient and up-to-date information system to integrate the various factors mentioned. This results in an effective operational strategy enabling governments to better serve their constituents in various regions resulting in considerable cost reductions.
This is especially true in the case of the SASO due to internal operational mismanagement, a distinct lack of sufficient set roles for individual agencies and committees as well as the fact that it has had to operate on fewer funds as compared to their counterparts in Western countries. Such a case necessitates the need for more efficient processes to be integrated into an organization’s operational procedures to reduce the overlapping of duties and create better human and material resource usage.
The larger an organization becomes the more hectic and haphazard its operations tend to become, especially in instances where its operations are located in different regions, localities, and towns. Government organizations need to understand how to properly allocate resources to specific locations, how local restaurant owners can be contacted, what are the limits of food inspection within a locality daily (i.e. how many places can food inspectors examine within a given day) and how will each branch location contact each other. This is necessary to share information on possible food contamination outbreaks or adverse trends within the food services industry that could result in instances of food poisoning.
In other words, information systems can be classified as solutions to identified problems or necessary methods of integration for government organizations wherein they can share information, create methods of online collaboration to deal with specific cases of food contamination or to create online guidelines that food inspectors can follow for specific investigations to ensure that effective methods of examination are utilized.
While the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) is proficient at coming up with specific solutions to problems involving food contamination and proper food quality, they are incapable of implementing these particular solutions. Information systems and information system specialists bridge this gap by being able to integrate the ideas of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) into viable technological applications in the form of policies and procedures that can be implemented on a department-wide basis for the SASO.
For example, if the SASO is currently having problems with its archaic method of food inspection for imports coming from other countries, the SFDA would think to implement a faster and better means of examining food in warehouses. They would of course think to apply a computer-based system for this particular solution, and this is where information systems come in. An information system in this particular situation becomes an applied solution where it is developed to help an organization resolve a particular problem.
On the other hand, if the organization in question was to expand and have a more diverse array of services for the general public, further development of the initial information system becomes necessary to adapt to the growing needs of the inspection service. Information systems act as a necessary method of process integration which enables food inspectors to do their job better making it use essential within the SFDA and SASO.
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