ADAFSA continues food shipment inspections at border-crossing points

ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 19th May, 2020) The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, ADAFSA, has said that it continues to carry out food shipment inspections at border-crossing points in Abu Dhabi.

In a statement on Monday, the authority said inspection efforts are conducted for all food shipments imported to the emirate's ports, as well as transit shipments. ADAFSA noted that physical, sensory and laboratory tests are undertaken to ensure the shipments’ safety and compliance with the approved standards.

"This comes in line with ADAFSA's keenness on maintaining food import flow to Abu Dhabi’s markets, and to ensure smooth flow of imported foodstuffs across the emirate's sea, air and land ports under the current circumstances," the statement added.

In March and April 2020, ADAFSA inspected 10,486 food shipments received at Abu Dhabi’s borders, involving over 262,000 tonnes of various foodstuffs.

In addition to ensuring compliance of imported foods with standards, regulations and laws issued by the competent authorities, ADAFSA is working on implementing the best food safety practices by using the newest techniques and following-up the world's relevant developments.

To ensure the health and safety of imported foods, and to prevent the entry of prohibited foodstuffs, or that endangering consumer’s health and safety or may endanger public health, ADAFSA noted that it also applies a risk-based approach for the control of imported foods across the emirate's borders.

ADAFSA’s inspection teams verify the official documents and certificates of imported food shipments at Border-Crossing Points, to ensure their validity, conduct a risk-based inspection for imported food products, and ensure compliance of all food consignments with quality and safety requirements and UAE standards.