Food safety system - Watheq; food establishments can apply for registration by uploading the required documents

About 9,000 food enterprises are registered on the Ministry's electronic food safety system (Watheq). Restaurants, food kiosks, cafeterias, enterprises that produce food, businesses that import food, and suppliers are among the registered food establishments, according to Hassan Al Sharshani, the coordinator for food business registration and licensing at the Ministry of Public Health's Food Safety Department.

He said that the Ministry of Public Health's Food Safety Department's electronic food safety system, Watheq, increases the confidence of investors and food enterprises.

Food companies can apply online for registration using the system by downloading the necessary documents.

In the event that there are any technical issues with registration, proprietors of food outlets can register with the system and get in touch with the Food Safety Department. He noted that the Ministry of Public Health's Food Safety Department oversees food enterprises as part of its executive procedure. 

According to him, the system also offers a number of other services, such as food export and re-export certificates, food export and re-export inspection services, and food consignment inspection services.

The electronic food safety system, or Watheq, is a food control process that uses three electronically linked systems—the electronic management of food analysis laboratories, the system of control over imported and exported food, and the system of control over food in the local market—all of which are based on standard operating procedures and subject to international accreditation controls (ISO 17020). The Ministry of Public Health's Food Safety Department effectively implements the health policy in all food safety-related concerns and executes the authority granted to the Ministry by Law No. 8 of 1990 concerning the regulation of human food control. 

To guarantee food's validity and safety, the agency inspects and controls food handling facilities. It also forbids working with appropriate authorities to handle any food that does not adhere to the standards and specifications.