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FCOS · Food Compliance OS

Nutrition labels for the UAE

The UAE follows GCC (GSO) labelling standards with national oversight. Here is what food brands need on pack to sell in the Emirates.

  • Required panel structure
  • Ingredient and allergen context
  • Review before export
  • PDF handoff for printers
Mango Juice 1L / Gulf · GSOSample label
  • Bilingual Arabic / English panel
  • Per 100 ml declaration
  • Arabic ingredient names from your library

At a glance

United Arab Emirates

Regulation
  • GSO 9
  • GSO 2233
Label format in FCOS
Gulf & GCC
Last updated
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Market guide

What this label needs before it goes on pack.

This guide is written for product, operations, QA, and regulatory teams who need the practical shape of a United Arab Emirates nutrition label.

The UAE baseline

The UAE adopts GSO standards for prepackaged food — GSO 9 for general labelling and GSO 2233 for the nutrition declaration — under national oversight (MOIAT, with municipal food control such as Dubai Municipality for products in trade).

Your pack typically needs:

  • Arabic labelling (Arabic-only or bilingual with Arabic prominent)
  • Nutrition declaration: energy plus core nutrients such as protein, carbohydrate, sugars, fat, saturated fat, and sodium/salt
  • Allergen declaration, production and expiry dates, storage conditions, net content, and origin

Practical notes for exporters

Registration of products and labels with the relevant authority/municipality is part of market entry. Inconsistent ingredient or nutrition data between markets is one of the most common reasons labels bounce back — keeping one source of truth matters more here than anywhere.

How FCOS helps

In FCOS, the UAE is covered under the Gulf & GCC market family: one product record, structured nutrition data, Arabic-capable label output, PDF export for your distributor or co-packer.

This overview is general guidance, not legal advice. Final compliance always depends on your product and jurisdiction — confirm requirements with your regulatory counsel.

Built into FCOS

From product data to a reviewed United Arab Emirates label.

  1. Create the product record

    Enter ingredients, nutrition values, serving details, and the markets the SKU will sell in.

  2. Generate the market view

    FCOS uses the same product data to shape the label around the selected market format.

  3. Review, approve, export

    Keep reviewers in the loop, then export the approved label PDF for your team or partner.

Where it pays off

The difference between a label file and a label system.

P / 1

The market changes, but the product record stays the same.

Add United Arab Emirates as a market target without copying values into another spreadsheet or rebuilding the SKU from scratch.

P / 2

Review happens before the PDF leaves.

Editors prepare the label, reviewers approve the version, and the exported file reflects the version that passed review.

P / 3

Retailer and co-packer handoff gets cleaner.

Share a shelf-ready PDF generated from structured product data instead of screenshots, emails, or disconnected drafts.

Stack comparison

Today vs. with FCOS

Today vs. with FCOS
WorkTodayWith FCOS
Market dataTodayKept in docs, emails, or spreadsheetsWith FCOSUnited Arab Emirates sits on the product record
Review stateTodayHard to know which file is approvedWith FCOSApproval state stays with the label version
ExportTodayScreenshots and manually assembled PDFsWith FCOSPDF export comes from structured data
Multi-market workTodayCopy data into each formatWith FCOSReuse one product record across markets

Frequently asked questions

Does the UAE require Arabic on food labels?

Yes. Arabic is required — Arabic-only or bilingual with Arabic given prominence — consistent with GSO 9 as adopted in the UAE.

What nutrition information is required in the UAE?

A nutrition declaration aligned to GSO 2233: energy and core nutrients such as protein, carbohydrate, sugars, fat, saturated fat, and sodium/salt.

Can FCOS produce a UAE-ready label?

FCOS generates Gulf & GCC label outputs with Arabic support, which covers UAE formatting needs; final regulatory sign-off stays with your compliance reviewer.

Keep exploring

Other market guides

Explore market guides

  • Saudi Arabia

    Nutrition labels for Saudi Arabia (SFDA)

  • Europe (EU)

    EU nutrition declarations (Regulation 1169/2011)

Build your United Arab Emirates label in minutes.

Try the FCOS label builder free. Pick United Arab Emirates as the market and see the label take shape from structured nutrition data.

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