Restaurants will now have to keep a portion of their kitchens visible to diners through glass windows to get their licenses renewed, according to new regulations of Jeddah and Taif mayoralties. The two mayoralties resorted to this measure after environmental health inspectors reported that most restaurants ignore basic hygiene standards and use substandard foodstuff, officials of Jeddah and Taif mayoralties were quoted as saying in sections of the Arabic media Thursday. The Environmental Health and Licenses Department will not renew or issue a new license to any restaurant regardless of its status and class unless it fulfills this condition, said the officials. “From the day of the issuance of this regulation, no license has been issued to any restaurant which did not fulfill this condition (of letting the diners view the kitchen through glass windows),” said Dr. Bashir Abu Al-Najm, Director General of the General Administration of the Licenses and Commercial Control at Jeddah Mayoralty. Ismail Ibrahim, Director of Public Relations at Taif Mayoralty, said a circular has been issued to all branches of the mayoralty against issuing or renewing licenses of restaurants which are not in compliance with the new regulation. Makkah Mayoralty is also in the process of introducing this condition, said Samir Al-Zaidim, Director of the Foodstuff at Makkah Mayoralty. Last month 117 restaurants were inspected in Jeddah, out of which more than 13 were closed and 35 were fined. The total fines paid by the violating restaurants reached SR198,000, said Dr. Al-Najm. He said violations ranged from using one-day-old food, unhygienic handling of food and the use of inferior quality utensils. According to the Hospitality Committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the total value of investments in the tourism sector in the Kingdom is SR36 billion, of which 20 percent is in the restaurant business. Tourism contributes nine percent to the Kingdom's GDP.
