Dubai Municipality has intensified health, food safety and hygiene inspections across more than 500 educational institutions as schools begin the 2026–2027 academic year, with inspections extending from school canteens and food suppliers to water systems, air-conditioning facilities, swimming pools and products used by students.

The inspections are aimed at ensuring schools maintain approved health, safety, food and nutrition standards and provide a safe environment for students and staff.

According to Dubai Municipality, inspection teams have combined field visits with smart monitoring to assess school canteens. The DM Checked platform is being used to verify permits, food suppliers and menus, while inspectors assess compliance with approved food safety and nutrition requirements.

Food safety extends beyond the canteen

The municipality's inspection programme also covers food-contact materials available in the market. Approximately 800 products, including food containers and drinking water bottles, have been tested to verify their safety.

School uniforms have also been collected from retailers and suppliers and sent to the Dubai Central Laboratory for analysis and compliance testing.

The expanded approach highlights the growing emphasis on controlling potential health risks across the wider school environment rather than focusing solely on food preparation and service areas.

Water, ventilation and facility hygiene under scrutiny

Beyond food safety, inspectors are examining key building and facility systems that can influence indoor health and hygiene.

Checks include ventilation and air-conditioning systems, air filters, water tanks and water systems, along with preventive maintenance and cleaning records and required laboratory testing. Swimming pools are also being inspected, including checks on certified lifeguards, rescue equipment and first-aid provisions.

For facility and hygiene operators, the inspections underline the importance of maintaining documented cleaning and preventive-maintenance programmes throughout the year, rather than relying solely on preparations immediately before the academic year begins.

Combining physical inspections with digital monitoring

Dubai Municipality's approach also demonstrates how regulatory inspections are increasingly combining traditional field assessments with digital tools.

The use of the DM Checked platform alongside physical inspections enables authorities to verify food-related permits and requirements while inspectors assess actual operating conditions on site. This creates a broader inspection model that brings together digital verification, physical inspection, laboratory testing and preventive maintenance records.

Dr Naseem Mohammed Rafie, Acting CEO of the Environment, Health and Safety Agency at Dubai Municipality, said the programme reflects the authority's focus on creating a proactive and healthy environment within educational institutions.

“By combining effective inspections with targeted awareness, we are working to protect students, strengthen food safety and encourage healthy practices that become part of their everyday lives,” she said.

A wider role for school hygiene management

The scale of the programme highlights how school hygiene is increasingly being treated as a whole-facility responsibility. Food safety, water quality, HVAC maintenance, cleaning practices, swimming-pool safety and product compliance all contribute to the health and wellbeing of students.

For schools and their FM and cleaning partners, this means hygiene performance cannot be viewed in isolation. Maintaining reliable records, preventive maintenance schedules, cleaning protocols and supplier compliance documentation is becoming increasingly important as authorities adopt more comprehensive inspection and monitoring frameworks.

Dubai Municipality said its inspection and awareness activities are designed to support safe practices across educational institutions throughout the new academic year.