Food items

To engage in food trading in Dubai / UAE, you would typically need a trade license specifically for food trading. This license ensures that you comply with local regulations regarding food safety, import/export, and other relevant requirements. A "mainland license" with "food trading activity" is mandatory to import in commercial quantities.

After obtaining a mainland license with a food trading activity in Dubai, you must register your new company with all relevant regulatory agencies in the UAE before commencing actual imports. It is mandatory to complete these registrations. Please consult us and we can assist you with the process.

After obtaining regulatory registrations for your company, the next step is to obtain individual product registration from the regulatory's. This process can be time-consuming, taking a few days to a few weeks to obtain approvals. All products must be registered before you can start importing. Certain products, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and meat, etc may be exempt from registration. However, if they undergo processing, such as cutting, salting, or special retail packaging, registration may become mandatory. The registration process is highly knowledge-based, and any errors may invalidate the product registration during imports. Therefore, please consult with us before importing, so that we can conduct a brief regulatory check before green lighting the importation.

1) Obtain the Required Certificates from the Origin: Prior to exporting food items from their origin, ensure that all necessary permits and certificates are obtained from the respective government agencies in the origin country. Since these government agencies may require physical inspections of the cargo, obtaining those documents after your cargo arrives in Dubai would be a challenging task.

2) Obtain Required Permits from UAE: Certain food products, may have additional import permit requirements that need to be fulfilled before the cargo arrives in the UAE. Please consult with us prior to importing so that we can assist you on this.

3) Labeling Regulations: It is important to ensure that all food items are correctly labeled according to the regulatory standards in the UAE. The labeling requirements vary depending on the product and the emirates where you plan to sell.

4) Packaging: It is essential to package food items according to UAE standards. Ensure that the packaging materials are safe and suitable for packing foodstuffs.

5) Storage and Temperature maintenance: Ensure that the foodstuff sent to Dubai meets HACCP standards for cleanliness and hygiene. Many food stuff may require temperature maintenance during transit or on arrival storage. Ensuring proper labeling on the cargo and clear instructions on the transport documents (BL or AWB) is necessary for maintaining the correct temperature throughout the supply chain.

6) Avoid non-food items in the cargo: To prevent regulatory issues, do not include non-food items like point-of-sale materials, cooking fuel, office stationary, utensils, unregistered products, samples, gifts, etc., inside the cargo.

7) Documentation: Please consult and provide soft copies of draft documents for us to guide you with any changes, if necessary. Additionally, ensure that all original hard copies of the documents are handed over to us in advance to facilitate a smooth import process.

Failure to comply with regulatory requirements can lead to serious consequences for the importing company, such as :

- Lengthy delays.
- Excessive fines.
- Cargo destruction by regulators (Cargo destruction is a costly service by the regulatory).
- Cargo may have to be re-exported to its origin, and all expenses covered by the consignee.
- Excessive airport or sea port storage charges.
- Increased liner demurrages.
- Trade License suspension and other legal repercussions.