Who regulates food and beverages in Saudi Arabia?
The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) regulates food, beverages, food additives and dietary supplements placed on the Saudi market, from registration to the retail shelf. The product, the factory and the Saudi importer usually all need to be known to the SFDA before goods arrive. Customs clearance through ZATCA is linked to SFDA release, so a missing registration typically stops a shipment at the border.
Food does not go through SABER. Most consumer and industrial goods follow SASO technical regulations and the SABER product conformity system, while food, cosmetics, medicines and medical devices sit with the SFDA. Getting this split right early avoids unnecessary back-and-forth.
Step one: SFDA product classification
Before registering, confirm how the SFDA sees your product. A protein bar, an energy drink, a herbal tea or a vitamin gummy can be treated as ordinary food, as a food for special dietary uses, as a dietary supplement, or even as a herbal or medicinal product, depending on its ingredients, dosage form and claims. The SFDA offers a product classification route for borderline cases, and the outcome decides which track applies.
- Ingredients: active substances, vitamins, botanicals and their concentrations
- Claims: health, nutrition or functional claims on the pack and in marketing
- Dosage form: capsules, tablets and measured powders are read differently from conventional food
- Target consumers: infants, children, athletes or people with medical conditions
Registering the importer, the foreign factory and the product
Registration usually works in layers. The Saudi importer holds an SFDA establishment registration and is responsible for the product in the market. Depending on the category, the foreign manufacturing facility may also need to be registered or approved, particularly for meat, poultry, fish, dairy and other higher-risk foods where approvals from the exporting country and certificates such as HACCP or ISO 22000 may be requested. Each product is then registered or listed on the SFDA electronic systems with its composition, label and supporting documents.
- Importer: a Saudi commercial registration and an SFDA establishment account; brands without a Saudi entity typically appoint an importer or distributor, or set up their own company
- Foreign factory: facility details, licences and food safety certifications, plus official approval for some categories
- Product: full ingredient list with percentages, specifications, nutrition information, label artwork, photos and certificates
If you sell through a Saudi distributor, decide early whose name the registrations sit under. Transferring registrations later can be slow, so many brands set clear contract terms, and some register a commercial agency or open their own Saudi entity.
Arabic labelling and shelf life
Labels are a common reason food shipments are held. Prepackaged food in Saudi Arabia must carry Arabic labelling in line with Saudi and GCC standards, such as GSO 9 on the labelling of prepackaged foods, together with SFDA requirements for nutrition labelling and specific categories. Arabic can be printed on the pack or, where permitted, added on a secure sticker, as long as it is complete and matches the registration.
- Product name that reflects the true nature of the food
- Full ingredient list in descending order, with allergens clearly declared
- Net quantity in metric units
- Production and expiry dates in the accepted format
- Country of origin, manufacturer and importer details
- Nutrition facts in the required layout
Shelf life matters too: Saudi and GCC standards set expiry rules for many categories, and products usually need enough remaining shelf life on arrival. Check this against your shipping schedule.
Practical tip: send us your label artwork before you print. A careful Arabic label review costs far less than relabelling stock in a Saudi warehouse.
Halal and health certificates
Meat, poultry and their products need halal slaughter certification, and products containing animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin, enzymes or certain flavourings are usually expected to carry a halal certificate. Certificates must come from a halal certification body recognised by the SFDA, whose Halal Center publishes the list of recognised bodies.
- Halal certificate from an SFDA-recognised body, where applicable
- Health certificate from the competent authority of the exporting country confirming the food is fit for human consumption
- Certificate of origin, commercial invoice and packing list
- Laboratory analysis reports for some products or when the SFDA requests them
SFDA import release at the port
When a shipment reaches a Saudi seaport, airport or land crossing, the SFDA reviews the documents linked to the customs declaration and decides whether to release the goods. Depending on product risk and importer history, it may inspect the consignment, check labels physically and draw samples for laboratory testing. Non-compliant consignments may have to be corrected, re-exported or destroyed.
- Product registration completed before the goods ship
- Product names, batch numbers and quantities that match across invoice, certificates and labels
- A customs broker familiar with SFDA procedures
Dietary supplements: a separate track
Vitamins, minerals, protein powders, sports nutrition and herbal supplements do not follow the ordinary food route. The SFDA treats health and dietary supplements as their own category, with a closer review of formulation, dosage and claims, and some products may be reclassified as herbal or medicinal products. If your range includes both, plan them as two projects. Cosmetic products follow yet another path, covered on our SFDA cosmetics page.
How RDO helps
RDO handles the practical work between your factory, your Saudi importer and the SFDA. We review the likely classification, check ingredients and claims against Saudi requirements, prepare and review Arabic labels, organise halal and health certificates, and coordinate establishment and product registrations on the SFDA systems. When goods ship, we follow up on import release with your customs broker until the consignment is cleared.
We work in Arabic, English and Chinese. For the terms used on this page, see our glossary.
