Exporting Food Products to Saudi Arabia – SFDA Updates its Mandatory Requirements for Certain Food Products

04 Mar 2022

Recent Updates from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority

As part of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority’s (SFDA) continuous effort to ensure the safety and prevent misleading product labelling of imported food products, SFDA has recently updated its mandatory guidelines on the requirements of the following Food Products:

Fruit Juices, Fruit Drinks and Nectar

The enforcement date of the Technical Regulation SFDA.FD 5012 “Labelling of Juices, Nectar, and Fruit Drinks”, has been postponed to January 1st 2023 to allow manufacturers and exporters more time to comply with the mandatory requirements fully.

Breastmilk substitutes such as Infant Formula and Toddler Milk

Aside from the mandatory Technical Regulations (SFDA.FD/GSO 223 Requirements for Breastmilk Substitutes, SFDA.FD/GSO 9 Labelling of Prepackaged Foodstuff, SFDA.FD 839 Food Packages - Part 1: General Requirements) issued by SFDA, which will be strictly enforced from 1st July 2022, SFDA has also instructed all Food Product Exporters of Breastmilk substitutes such as Infant Formula and Toddler Milk to abide by the following specific provisions:  

• Food manufacturers shall not design their food packages in such a way to mislead or deceive the consumers or give them wrong impressions, taking into account the general requirements of food packages of all kinds.
• Prepackaged food shall not be described or presented with labelling information that is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to create an erroneous impression regarding its character in any respect.
• It is strictly prohibited to place in the market any food products using names or packages similar to those used with breastmilk substitutes such as “infant formula and toddler milk”.
• It is strictly prohibited to display any age groups on the packages of milk products in a manner contrary to the approved Saudi standards and regulations.

Manufacturers and Exporters of these products must make sure that they comply with the applicable mandatory SFDA Technical Regulation to avoid penalties or the possible return of their consignment to its origin. 

Intertek is here to help you comply with the mandatory requirements of the Saudi Food Consignment Certification Programme and is authorized to issue the Certificates of Conformity required by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for ease of Customs clearance at the KSA Ports/Borders.