A restaurant-owner accused of serving meals made with expired chicken to more than 100 workers is under investigation by Ras Al Khaimah authorities.
An Emirati man filed a complaint against the restaurant to RAK Municipality a few days ago, according to Munther Al Zaabi, director of emirate’s municipality.
“He said he had arranged with the restaurant to provide him with iftar meals on daily basis throughout the holy month for more than 100 workers at his farm,” said Mr Al Zaabi.
He said the workers soon began complaining that the meals smelled strange and tasted bad.
“When their complaints continued, he decided to join them for iftar,” said Mr Al Zaabi.
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After confirming that the meals were not fit to eat, the man visited the restaurant to complain to its owner.
Mr Al Zaabi said the owner of the restaurant tried to stop the man from entering the kitchen but failed. The man told authorities he saw packages of chicken that had passed their use-by date by a month being used in the kitchen chicken.
The man filmed a video of the expired chicken being used to make meals and submitted it to the municipality as evidence.
During investigations by inspectors, the Emirati man told them that the owner of the restaurant offered him free meals for the remaining days of Ramadan in return for him dropping the complaint he filed against him.
Restaurants that do not abide by health and safety regulations by serving food not fit for human consumption can be fined between Dh5,000 and Dh100,000 and risk being closed down by the municipality.
The investigation is ongoing.
