JEDDAH – The Jeddah Mayoralty warned that punitive measures will be taken against violators of the regulations with regard to production and sale of bread and maintenance of public hygiene. The regulations stipulate that the minimum weight of a bundle of bread is 510 grams. The regulations also include fulfilling health requirements related bread making equipment, general hygiene, availability of paper bags for packing hot bread, and the validity of the flour used in the production of bread. The penalties for the violations include fines ranging between SR500 and SR3000, and the closure of the bakery if the violation is repeated. Okaz/Saudi Gazette monitored a number of violations when it accompanied the inspection tour carried out by Al-Safa branch of the Jeddah Mayoralty covering several bakeries in the city. The inspection tour covered manual, semi-automatic and automated bakeries to detect any violations committed in the regulations. During the inspection tour, a number of violations were detected and these included the use of rusty tools, poor handling and violation of storage conditions, displaying foodstuffs of unknown origin, and not having minimum weight of 510 grams of bread. It was found in the inspection tour that a famous bakery in Al-Safa branch municipality failed in implementing general hygiene regulations especially in terms of the storage of cooked materials and frozen dough, and the workers' failure to wear gloves and masks properly, in addition to the use of towels several times. Ohoud Al-Shamrani, head of Al-Safa branch municipality, said that the ongoing rounds of inspections aimed at ensuring food security and safety. He stressed that the competent authorities will monitor all violations and will impose penalties against the violators. According to the bylaw of municipal fines and penalties, approved by the Council of Ministers, the violations include reduction in the approved standard weight of bread or violation of all those specifications that do not come in the purview of the Anti-Commercial Fraud Law.
