UAE food labelling: the five things Korean companies get caught on most

In the Middle East a good product still stops at customs over one line on the label. What takes a few days to fix before shipping takes weeks once the goods have arrived. These are the five issues that come up repeatedly in practice.

01. Arabic is not optional

The GCC standard GSO 9 requires the labelling particulars of prepackaged food to be given in Arabic. Other languages may be used as well, but they must sit alongside the Arabic and must not differ from it in content.

Some companies ship with an English-only label on the assumption that Arabic can be added on arrival. That assumption is the most common starting point for a clearance delay.

02. What can be applied as a sticker and what cannot

Many companies treat these as one and the same. The rules treat them differently.

Production date and expiry date: these must be engraved, embossed or printed in indelible ink, and must be applied by the producer. They cannot be applied as a sticker.

Supplementary Arabic label: a sticker is permitted, but it requires prior approval from the authorities and must be applied before export. It must not cover existing particulars, and it must not carry content that differs from the original label.

So it is not accurate to say that stickers are not allowed, nor that a sticker solves everything. Dates are printed. The translation goes on an approved sticker.

03. Ingredient declarations turn on order and allergens

All ingredients must be declared in descending order of weight at the time of manufacture. Food additives must carry their functional class name, and allergens must be declared under separate rules. A Korean domestic label translated straight across often departs from the required order or the required way of naming additives.

The product name, the net weight in metric units, the name and address of the manufacturer or packer, and the country of origin are also mandatory particulars.

04. The registration system is split between federal and emirate level

At federal level the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) and the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MOIAT) govern the legislation and the standards, while enforcement sits with each emirate's municipality. Label approval and product registration follow the same structure.

ZAD: the federal food data system covering all seven emirates

FIRS: Dubai Municipality's food import and re-export system

ZADI: Dubai's integrated platform

Even a shipment arriving into Dubai is assessed against the federal regulations. Without settling first which authority's requirements apply, the paperwork ends up being prepared twice.

05. Check that the standard you are reading is the current edition

The labelling standard GSO 9 has its fourth edition (GSO 9:2022) approved on 2022.10.19, and that is the current edition. Much of the material and many of the translations circulating in Korea are still based on the 2013 edition.

Most of the basic principles carry over, but clause numbers and detailed requirements can differ between editions. When reviewing a label draft, first confirm the edition and the year of issue of the standard it is based on.

In summary

All five can be checked before shipping. Reviewing the label draft, the ingredient list, the way the expiry date is applied and the destination emirate together in one pass catches most of them. Found after arrival, they come with bonded warehouse storage costs and a rework schedule.