Almost half of Shawarma outlets in Dubai may be closed down

Shawarma, the most eaten food in Dubai, is going to get scarce. Dubai Municipality has started crackdown on shawarma outlets after the deadline to implement the new guidelines on preparing and selling shawarma ended on October 31.

The six-month deadline given to 572 small and medium food outlets selling shawarma across Dubai to implement the new rules related to space, equipment and storage requirements aimed at enhancing hygiene and safety of the product ended on October 31.

Almost 45% of shawarma stands in Dubai will face closure over failure to implement the guidelines. Around 20% shawarma outlets in Dubai have already stopped selling shawarma

A statement from Dubai Municipality stated that 113 out of the 572 shawarma shops have stopped selling shawarma while 141 shops haven’t taken any corrective measures. It added 146 outlets are fully complying with the new guidelines and 172 shops are still in the process of completing the formalities.

During the routine inspection campaigns, the municipality found that shops did not have enough space to prepare the food and were bringing the meat/chicken from other establishments. They also did not have space to put ingredients such as mayonnaise, garlic sauce, tahini.