ISO 22000 by region
ISO 22000 certification in the UAE and GCC: EIAC and GAC accreditation, halal alongside and local practice
Clause by clause: ISO 22000:2018 requirements: every clause explained →
What is different about ISO 22000 in the UAE and GCC: where the demand comes from, how to check a certification body's EIAC, GAC or SAAC scope for food safety, Dubai registration, halal alongside and multi-site practice.
Key points
- EIAC, the Dubai Government's accreditation body, accredits certification bodies against ISO/IEC 17021-1. Before you sign, check in its directory that your body's accreditation covers food safety management and your food chain category, not only quality management.
- EIAC's FAQ states that certification bodies operating in Dubai must be registered under local regulation, while accreditation outside Dubai is voluntary, so ask a Dubai-facing body for both.
- Across the Gulf, GAC accredits management system certification bodies and publishes a directory you can filter by body type and country; SAAC does the same for Saudi Arabia.
- Halal sits beside ISO 22000 in this market: EIAC and GAC both accredit halal certification bodies, and EIAC lists scopes for food products and for restaurants and food services.
Why food businesses in the UAE and GCC pursue ISO 22000
For a food manufacturer, caterer, cold store or distributor in the Gulf, the certificate is usually asked for at supplier approval, not at registration. The Ministry of Finance's Federal Supplier Register asks domestic, free-zone and foreign suppliers for a trade licence, a VAT or tax registration certificate and an owner's passport copy; it does not ask for an ISO certificate.
So the demand comes from the buyer in front of you: the procurement team of a hotel group, an airline caterer, a retailer or a semi-government entity, whose supplier questionnaire asks which food safety certificate you hold, for which site and from which body. Each tender or approval file decides whether ISO 22000 is enough or whether a GFSI-recognised scheme such as FSSC 22000 is expected; the HACCP, ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000 comparison sets out that choice.
Accreditation for ISO 22000 in the UAE and GCC
EIAC, the Emirates International Accreditation Centre, describes itself as a governmental entity under the Executive Council of the Government of Dubai, established under Dubai Law No. 27 of 2015 in place of the former Dubai Accreditation Department. Its certification bodies service accredits against ISO/IEC 17021-1. The question for a food business is whether a given body's EIAC scope includes food safety management systems and your product category; the EIAC directory answers it.
GAC, the accreditation body of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with a branch in Oman, accredits bodies that audit and certify management systems to ISO/IEC 17021-1 and the IAF requirements. SAAC, Saudi Arabia's national accreditation body, keeps a directory of accredited conformity assessment bodies that includes certification bodies.
Recognition across borders now runs through the Global ACI arrangement, which took over from the IAF MLA and ILAC MRA on 1 January 2026. EIAC states that it signs the IAF MLA and ILAC MRA, and SAAC lists Global ACI among its affiliations, but the Global ACI site published no list of recognised bodies when we last looked. Confirm the current status of the accreditation body behind your certificate there, and read the certificate verification guide for the rest of the check.
Local practice that changes the project
Licences, entities and the certificate scope
A free-zone food trading company and a mainland production or catering company are separately licensed, even under one owner. The certificate names legal entities, sites and product categories, so settle early which licences sit inside the scope and make the site addresses match the trade licences a buyer's auditor will compare.
Kitchens, plants and cold stores in several countries
A central kitchen in Dubai, a bakery in Sharjah and a distribution centre in Riyadh each run their own PRPs, flows and monitoring records. The certification body sets audit time for each site under the ISO 22003-1 rules on food chain categories, HACCP studies and headcount, so ask whether it can audit in every country and whether its accreditation covers each category you operate.
Halal alongside the food safety system
EIAC accredits halal certification bodies to UAE.S GSO 2055-2:2021, GSO 2055-2:2021 and OIC/SMIIC 2:2019, and asks applicants for registration approval from MOIAT. GAC accredits halal certification to GSO 2055-2:2021. The halal body certifies separately, but supplier approval, traceability, cleaning and segregation records can be shared with the FSMS rather than kept twice; the Halal hub covers the halal side.
Records and audit days
Keep monitoring records in a language both line staff and auditor read, and book Stage 2 during normal production.
Local items to check, and where
| Local item | What it means for your project | Where to verify it |
|---|---|---|
| EIAC scope of the certification body | Must cover food safety management and your food chain category, not quality management alone | The Conformity Assessment Bodies Directory on the EIAC website |
| Dubai registration of the certification body | EIAC states bodies operating in Dubai must be registered locally | The EIAC FAQ, then the body's own registration evidence |
| GAC or SAAC accreditation | Matters where a GCC buyer names a regional or Saudi accreditation | The GAC accredited bodies directory filtered for management system certification, and the SAAC directory |
| Halal certification body | A separate certificate; shared records with the FSMS | EIAC's halal conformity assessment bodies page and GAC's services page |
| Supplier registration | Licence and tax documents, not ISO 22000, at federal level | The Ministry of Finance Federal Supplier Register page, then each buyer's portal |
How Sterling works in the UAE and GCC
Sterling's Dubai office leads food safety engagements across the Gulf, with consultants at your kitchens, plants and warehouses and remote support between visits, drawing on 8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries since 2003. Sterling does not certify: an independent, accredited certification body audits and decides, and we help you shortlist one whose scope matches your food chain category and your buyers.
How Sterling supports food businesses in the UAE and GCC
One food safety system for every licence, site and GCC buyer
We start with a gap analysis of your PRPs and HACCP plans across entities and sites, build the hazard analysis and hazard control plan with your food safety team, run the records in Effivity, train your people and internal auditors, and stay with you through Stage 1 and Stage 2. We ensure successful certification for our clients.
Book a free discovery callISO 22000 in the UAE and GCC: questions buyers ask
Does our ISO 22000 certification body need EIAC accreditation?
Not always, but a body operating in Dubai must be registered locally, according to EIAC. Accreditation by another recognised body is often accepted, so check what your buyer's supplier approval file names before you choose.
Is ISO 22000 needed for UAE federal supplier registration?
No. The Federal Supplier Register asks for a trade licence, a tax registration certificate and a passport copy. Individual buyers and tenders can still ask for a food safety certificate.
How do we check an ISO 22000 certificate issued in the GCC?
Look the certification body up in the directory of the accreditation body named on the certificate: EIAC, GAC or SAAC. Then confirm that its scope covers food safety management and the certificate's food chain category.
Can one ISO 22000 certificate cover sites in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh?
Yes, if every site runs the same system and the certification body can audit in each country. It sets audit time per site under ISO 22003-1, so share your full site list when you ask for quotes.
ISO 22000 by region
Every guide in the ISO 22000 series is written for one question and links back to the hub for the whole picture.
- ISO 22000 certification in Australia
- ISO 22000 certification in India
- ISO 22000 certification in the Netherlands and Europe
- ISO 22000 certification in Singapore and South East Asia
- ISO 22000 Stage 1 and Stage 2 audit
- ISO 22000 surveillance and recertification
- ISO 22000 certification in the Philippines
- ISO 22000 certification in the UAE and GCC
- ISO 22000 certification in the United Kingdom
- ISO 22000 timeline
- ISO 22000 training
Keep exploring
Explore more about ISO 22000
Watch a video on how to implement ISO 22000 here.
Watch a video on ISO 22000 requirements here.
ISO 22000 resources
Services for ISO 22000
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