DUBAI – Hotels and restaurants in Dubai will be allowed to serve food cooked with alcohol after the municipality retracted its ban on such dishes.
Chefs from leading hotels in Dubai had approached the municipality asking for a review of the decision to ban booze in food.
Khalid Sharif al Awadhi, the director of the Food Control Department at Dubai Municipality, said that food containing alcohol could be served, provided it is segregated from other food and clearly labelled.
“We are asking them that any alcohol content in food should be declared,†he said. “We have found violations where hotels are not clearly stating alcohol content in their food.
“This is why we issued the new circular,†al Awadhi explained.
He said alcohol should be handled like other “non-halal productsâ€, such as pork.
A municipality circular sent to all hotels last week clearly stated that food in alcohol would be strictly prohibited.
“Use of alcohol in preparation and cooking of food is strictly prohibited. Display and sale of food products containing alcohol as an ingredient is strictly prohibited,†said the circular, seen by The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi.
