The move is in view of the fast approaching Holy Month of Ramadan and the rise in demand for dates, leading to violation of health safety regulations.

Hassan Ghoneim, director of the municipality’s university branch, said they toured all dates shops and a number of irregularities were found in the stores.

He said that they found many cartons and containers without data cards, and from anonymous sources, it is estimated there were 4,000 to 7,800 cartons of different sizes and weights, and 360 cartons of 1,000g dates which were expired.

Ghoneim said that they confiscated almost 11,500 food information labels which were not placed on the packets of dates to misguide the municipality as they were contrary to the rules and regulations of the municipality.

He said that during the inspection they noticed that many shops had shelves that were not clearly visible and they failed in presenting proper packaging, and many employees did not have proper authorization.

Ghoneim said the municipality withdrew a number of date samples from some stores and forwarded them to the municipality’s laboratory for analysis. He added that the shop owners need to establish the concept of corporate identity, introduce them to their duties and responsibilities and monitor their behavior.