- Dubai Municipality launches 'My School Food' platform to enhance school meal quality and promote student nutritional awareness using AI
- Targets 400,000+ students across 500+ educational institutions with new nutritional controls, hygiene standards and the AI assistant 'Ghalia'
- New MoUs with Jafza, Ecolab UAE and universities to streamline food supply chains and accelerate AI-driven innovation in food safety and sustainability
Dubai Municipality has launched the 'My School Food' platform to improve the quality of school meals while promoting better nutritional awareness among students. This initiative is one among the new programs and regulatory changes being enacted to transform food safety and nutrition systems at educational institutions across the emirate, and enhance food supply chains with advanced technology and artificial intelligence.
Unveiled during the 19th Dubai International Food Safety Conference, the platform targets more than 400,000 students across over 500 schools, nurseries and universities in Dubai, along with more than 50 school food suppliers. It also features an AI-powered assistant named 'Ghalia', developed to provide students and suppliers with instant answers on food safety, balanced nutrition, and reducing food waste, based on municipality-approved data and standards.
The new measures further reinforce Dubai’s position as a global hub for future-ready food safety systems. The new controls introduce tighter nutritional guidelines that include calorie calculation, portion control, meal planning by age, clearer labelling, and quantity regulations.
The platform also puts focus on nutrient-dense foods, higher fibre intake, reduced sugar consumption, increased water intake, and regulated consumption of caffeinated drinks. Other protocols are related to hygiene standards, allergy management, and institutional food safety requirements for educational facilities.
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Dubai Municipality has also activated a new partnership with Jebel Ali Free Zone, known as Jafza, to further streamline compliance procedures for major food companies and unify inspection processes. The collaboration is designed to provide more flexible supply chains, accelerate the clearance of food products into the local market, and further strengthen preventive public-health safeguards.
Furthermore, the signing of several memoranda of understanding took place with government bodies, private companies, and academic institutions to support food security, sustainability, and digital innovation within the sector.
Key agreements include the MoU with Jafza that will streamline regulatory requirements for major food companies, improve inspection efficiency, expedite the market release of food imports, and further strengthen public health protection. Another MoU with Ecolab UAE will contribute to improving the water and food safety systems while developing sustainable regulatory solutions by using the most advanced technologies and AI.
To strengthen research and academic collaboration, the municipality also signed MoUs with Canadian University Dubai and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Dubai for the purpose of sharing expertise, undertaking joint research in food safety, and developing AI-driven tools for data analysis, risk assessment, and regulatory enforcement. The agreements also include launching specialized training programs for youth.
