Food Import Clearance in Saudi Arabia — SFDA Requirements

What must be registered before anything ships

Food clearance in Saudi Arabia is a registration problem before it is a border problem. The SFDA requires registration of the foreign establishments exporting food to the Kingdom, of the local Saudi food importer, and of customs brokers. Foreign establishment registration is supported by a registration certificate issued by the health authority in the exporting country and an industrial certificate issued by the ministry responsible.

Products are then registered in the SFDA’s food registration system, which regulates imported and locally manufactured food and builds the database of registered products and their establishments. The registration request carries the ingredients, country of origin, shelf life, the label, testing reports and the halal certificate where applicable.

SOURCES · Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Executive Management of Food Import Control; SFDA food registration guidance.

What travels with the consignment

Health certificate

From the competent authority in the exporting country, in the form that authority is approved to issue for Saudi Arabia.

Halal certificate

Original, for meat and poultry — and for a much wider set of products, below.

Slaughter certificate

Original, for meat and poultry.

Phytosanitary certificate

For plant products, per the import requirements for foods of plant origin.

Commercial set

Invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill and certificate of origin, as for any import.

Other

Any further document or certificate the SFDA requires for the specific commodity — novel foods carry their own certification requirements.

SOURCES · Saudi Food and Drug Authority; USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Saudi Arabia FAIRS Certificates Report.

Halal certification now reaches well beyond meat

The SFDA, with the Saudi Halal Center, has reinforced mandatory halal certification for food imports and clarified which composite products it covers. It is broader than most exporters assume.

• Products containing, in any proportion, meat or meat products and derivatives, animal fats, gelatin, collagen, animal-derived rennet, or enzymes of animal origin.
• Dairy products including cheese and labneh where they contain animal-based oils, fats, rennet or other animal-derived components — with clearly stated whey, milk, butter and milk-derived fats excepted.
• Dough-based items such as pizza and pastries containing animal-derived oils, fats or other animal-origin components, excluding clearly stated dairy derivatives.
• Any product carrying a halal claim or halal logo on its packaging, whatever it contains.

SOURCES · SFDA circular on halal certification requirements, issued with the Saudi Halal Center; SFDA technical regulations SFDA.FD/GSO 2055-1 and SFDA.FD/GSO 993.

Labelling

Foodstuff validity period and ingredients must be labelled in Arabic in accordance with Saudi or GCC specifications. The applicable GSO standards cover nutritional labelling, prepackaged foods and foods for special dietary use, and exporters are expected to comply with current SFDA and GSO standards on labelling of prepackaged foodstuffs.

Label artwork is the cheapest thing to get right and one of the most common reasons a consignment is refused. Approve the Arabic label against the standard before the print run, not against the last shipment.

SOURCES · SFDA; GSO standards including GSO 2233 (nutritional labelling) and GSO 654 (prepackaged foods for special dietary use); U.S. International Trade Administration.

At the port

A food consignment is inspected by the SFDA at the point of entry. Where a food item requires no corrective action and no instance of non-compliance is found, the item is released the same day and referred to customs for final clearance. A consignment can be rejected and refused entry to the Saudi market at any stage of the inspection.

This is the reason food clearance timelines are quoted differently from general cargo: the customs release is downstream of a regulator decision that has its own sampling and testing rhythm.

SOURCES · Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Executive Management of Food Import Control.

Duty on food

Most food products carry a five percent import duty. Selected processed foods are assessed at higher rates depending on the Kingdom’s self-sufficiency in the product, with a maximum of forty percent ad valorem applied where local production exceeds a self-sufficiency level. Rice, bulk animal feed, livestock, fresh red meat, coffee and tea enter duty-free. Saudi Arabia operates no tariff rate quotas.

Excise applies to a narrow set of drinks: carbonated drinks at fifty percent and energy drinks at one hundred percent.

SOURCES · U.S. International Trade Administration, Saudi Arabia Country Commercial Guide — Import Tariffs, last published 11 May 2026.

Official sources

SFDA — imported food ↗

Import control: establishment registration, required certificates, inspection stages and release.

SFDA — laws and regulations ↗

Procedural rules and requirement guides, including the conditions and requirements for importing food.

RiyadhCargo.com is an independent news monitoring service. It is not a customs broker, freight forwarder, carrier or law firm, and nothing on this page is customs, tax or legal advice for a particular shipment. Procedures and rates change; the authorities named on this page are the only binding source. Check the current position with ZATCA or a licensed Saudi customs broker before you ship.

Frequently asked questions

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