Vegetables from 4 Europe states off Capital shelves

ABU DHABI/ DUBAI ? Supermarkets and hypermarkets in the Capital have removed the vegetables imported from Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany from their shelves, as fears of E.coli contamination spread in Europe this week. The UAE also imposed a temporary ban on import of cucumbers from a number of European countries including Spain, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, Wam reported.

“We removed lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce imported from the European nations this morning in line with the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority’s direction,” confirmed an executive at Lulu Hypermarkets in the capital.

The Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFD) on Wednesday morning directed the supermarkets to remove the vegetables from these countries from the shelves, following similar action taken by several European nations.

The authority said: “It suspect that the vegetables which are imported from Spain, Germany, Denmark or the Netherlands may be contaminated”, an executive said.

The officials also took samples of vegetables to carry out chemical examination.

However, in Dubai, prominent retailers said they had not received any instruction from the Food Control Department of the local municipality to take any of the vegetables imported from the European countries off the shelves.

Staff in-charge of fresh produce in many supermarkets and hypermarkets said the samples of the salad vegetables from European countries were cleared in tests. “All of us are confused. We are waiting for updates from the municipality,” a hygiene officer from a popular supermarket chain said.

Municipal officials said they had put strict control measures in place over the imports of certain vegetables from a few European countries. However, they were not clear if a total ban would be imposed on the vegetables in question, like cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes.

“Reports from Spain and Germany are changing day by day. The actual source of the outbreak is still not clear. We are closely monitoring the situation. A total ban may be imposed on more vegetables and products once there is clear information about the cause of the outbreak,” an official from the Dubai Municipality said.

A senior executive at Lulu Hypermarkets in the Capital said that vegetables are available in large quantities at its outlets dispelling the impact of the action. “There is no impact of the removal of these vegetables on the retail business,” he said. “We source our vegetables from the UAE, Oman, India and other countries. So we are not entirely dependent on the European nations,” he said.

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