Effectiveness Evaluation Study of Person In-charge (PIC) Program towards Food Safety across Dubai Food Industry

Introduction: In an objective of reducing food poisoning incidents and somehow tackle down food safety issues; Food Control Dept. ( FCD) of Dubai Municipality ( DM) have launched Person in-charge ( PIC) program in 2011 as an appropriate food safety alternative  program that so far suits the need of this city.  Hence the PIC is accountable to his employer and the government for making sure that he and the employees on that shift are following effective policies and procedures for food safety.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of PIC program implementation in food establishments and measure out its contribution to food safety standard.

Methods: A standard interview took place with all the nominated PICs for the entire 48 randomly selected food establishments using a questionnaire designed to have open ended questions to serve the purpose and shall be used in two parts; before and after the program implementation.

Results: By looking at the two stages of the study; before and after PIC implementation and comparing the results for each question in the questionnaire whether it was a direct question to evaluate food safety knowledge or a question to observe food safety practices; there was a tangible knowledge increase after the implementation and practices as well have seen certain positive changes like using the smart checklist provided by the food control department and understanding the cost of  food poisoning incidents; therefore we have seen less violations in cross contamination practices by 40% compared to the first stage of the study, personal hygiene practices also got enhanced by 60% compared to the results of the first stage.  

Significance: The findings of the study will highlight the areas that FCD have to focus on to improve the program implementation and make the modifications accordingly so as to be as robust as possible.