Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC), the region’s first dedicated centre that aims to promote the physical, mental and social wellbeing of Abu Dhabi’s population by raising public awareness around prevention and early identification, launched the first of a series of workshops aimed at training hotel food establishments on displaying nutritional information on their menus as part of the SEHI program.
The program, introduced by ADPHC, aims to train 600 hotel food establishments registered under the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi on displaying calorie and macro-nutritional information on their menus to support in building a community landscape that empowers people to make informed and healthy decisions and food choices. As such, this program aligns with ADPHC’s commitment to bolstering public health programs and initiatives through collaborations across a wide range of entities in Abu Dhabi.
Dr. Mariam Al Wahedi, Manager Community Health at Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, said: “As most people know, eating a high number of calories can lead to weight gain and other health implications. So, being able to identify the number of calories in meals we eat is essential to our health and necessary to sustain a healthy balanced diet and weight. This initiative will provide the community with the tools to make informed decisions when it comes to their food. Not only can they look at the number of calories, which alone are not indicative of how nutritious a meal is, they can also look at macro-nutrients like Fats, Proteins, and Carbohydrates.”
Guidelines on displaying nutritional information will be governed by Abu Dhabi Public Health Center to ensure a uniform application throughout establishments in Abu Dhabi. Backed by educational materials on using the digital food analysis program, the program will guide participating entities to ensure the overarching goals are achieved.
ADPHC will continue empowering all participating establishments through periodic progress meetings, access to state of the art digital nutritional analysis software programs, and training field visits to food establishments.
