Is a halal certificate required to export meat to Saudi Arabia?

Yes. Meat and poultry shipments need a halal certificate for each shipment, and the SFDA asks for the halal slaughter certificate issued by a centre accredited by the Saudi Halal Center.

Who can issue a halal certificate for the UAE?

Halal certification bodies registered by the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. Meat and poultry also need the original halal slaughter certificate.

The Gulf technical regulation Halal Products — Part 1: General Requirements, approved on 5 November 2015. The SFDA lists it among the standards for imported food.

Term

Halal certificate

A halal certificate is a document certifying that a product, service or system complies with halal requirements in Islamic law. For meat and poultry, Saudi Arabia and the UAE also require a halal slaughter certificate with shipments, and Saudi Arabia accepts only those issued by halal centres accredited by the Saudi Halal Center.

Also called halal slaughter certificate, halal certification, GSO 2055-1, UAE halal national mark, halal import certificateApplies in KSA, UAE, GCCUpdated 14 October 2026

What each country asks

Country	Requirement	Who issues it
Saudi Arabia	A copy of the halal slaughter certificate for meat, poultry and raw gelatine intended for food (SFDA); a halal certificate for each meat and poultry shipment	Halal centres accredited by the Saudi Halal Center
UAE	The original halal slaughter certificate for meat and poultry products; a halal certificate for establishments under Cabinet Decree 10/2014	Halal certification bodies registered by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MOIAT)

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) describes the halal slaughter certificate as the certificate accompanying shipments of meat, poultry and their products, with details such as the slaughter date and expiry. The rules rest on GSO 2055-1:2015, Halal Products — Part 1: General Requirements, a Gulf technical regulation approved on 5 November 2015. The US Commerce Department says halal certification has been mainly enforced in Saudi Arabia since November 2020. MOIAT's statistics for 2022 count 7,585 issues of the UAE's optional halal national mark.

Worked example: frozen poultry to Jeddah

One reefer container of frozen chicken → a health certificate from the exporting country + a halal slaughter certificate from a centre accredited by the Saudi Halal Center · a second container next week → a second halal certificate · a certificate from an unaccredited body → not accepted

Requirements from the SFDA's food clearance conditions (August 2026) and the US Commerce Department's Saudi labelling guide; the shipments are illustrative.

The mistake people make

Putting a halal logo on the label without the paperwork behind it. The SFDA requires proof of authenticity for any specific halal logo or quality mark used, and the certificate must come from a body the importing country recognises — an accredited centre for Saudi Arabia, a MOIAT-registered body for the UAE.

FAQ