Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Foreigners employed in food outlets will be imposed a travel ban until the completion of a probe into suspected food poison cases at the facility. This is one of the provisions of the proposed rules that the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) intend to implement in the near future.

The authority, in agreement with the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing, plans to make it mandatory on facilities to follow strict rules and protocols in the event of food poisoning or suspected cases of food poisoning. These measures include prohibiting the cleaning, removal or destruction of any equipment, tools or materials from the facility if it is found that there was an occurrence of poisoning, and taking criminal punitive measures against the violation.

The authority stressed that in the event of a case of food poisoning or suspected food poisoning, the food outlet will be obligated not to allow workers to leave the Kingdom, and must notify the relevant authority with the list of workers in the facility, and the relevant authority shall submit a request to the competent authorities to issue a travel ban order until the competent authorities complete the investigations into the food poisoning incident.

The SFDA presented this new amendment to the executive regulations of the Food Law on the Istithlaa platform, seeking opinion of the public before finalizing the regulations in this regard. The draft amendment expanded the definition of food that is harmful to health and unfit for human consumption, to include "if it contains or is suspected of containing a biological or chemical contaminant that leads to food poisoning and its incubation period is consistent with the symptoms caused by the biological contaminant or its toxins in the infected persons."