An Assessment Of Food Safety Culture At Five Ethnic Group Restaurants In Dubai.

Tahir, Sultan

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that a deeper understanding of food safety culture within organizations is necessary for ensuring food safety. During the food inspection program, the Dubai Municipality Food Safety Department identified two categories of restaurants, with one responding to inspectors' food safety concerns while the other did not. The analysis of the data on food safety noncompliance from the Dubai Municipality's smart system revealed that the knowledge and attitude of food handlers play a significant role in food safety infractions. Moreover, the majority of these infractions are associated with specific food establishments and ethnic groups, including Pakistan, India, the Philippines, Arabs, and international. The purpose of this research was to determine how food safety culture influences food safety compliance in various ethnic groups (Indian, Pakistani, Philippine, Arab, and international). Five factors, including financial inadequacy, management’s commitment, food safety risk perception, management and co-worker support, and knowledge and trust in the food safety management system in different cuisines, were perceived differently by food handlers. Thirty food handlers from various ethnic groups of restaurants were randomly selected. This research employs a qualitative research strategy, and the primary instrument was semi-structured interviews with ten food handlers from Indian cuisine, eight from Pakistani cuisine, and four from the Philippines, Arabic, and international cuisines, respectively. An analysis of the food safety cultures of Indian, Pakistani, Philippine, Arabic, and international cuisines revealed that international and Arabic cuisines have financial adequacy to manage food safety, while Indian, Pakistani, and Philippine cuisines were found to have inadequate financial resources to implement Food Safety Management Systems to support food safety. Positive management commitment was noted in Pakistani, Arabic, and international cuisines, despite negative management commitment in Indian and Philippine cuisines. Indian, Arabic, and international cuisines exhibit a positive impact in perceiving the risk, whereas both Pakistani and Philippine cuisines showed a negative impact in perceiving the food safety risk. It was determined that the management and coworker support were positive in the Indian, Pakistani, and Philippine cuisines, whereas they were negative in the Arabic and international cuisines. The research also revealed that all five cuisines lacked knowledge and trust in the Food Safety Management System, relying primarily on basic food safety practices to ensure food safety and hygiene. The findings revealed a strong relationship between food safety culture and food safety compliance among Indian, Pakistani, Philippine, Arabic, and international ethnic groups. This research provides distinct contributions to the current body of literature. It offers factual evidence that the food safety culture has a direct influence on food safety. Given the lack of previous exploration on this subject, this research proposes a novel approach to enhancing safety in food establishments. The research examined and emphasized the variables that influence the level of food safety compliance in Dubai's restaurants.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Dec 13, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2025
• Award Date: Jan 23, 2025