UAE salt, sugar and fat limits: what changes for your recipe

Your recipe now has a deadline. If you make or import packaged bread, sweetened milk drinks, sweetened or flavoured yoghurt and laban, salty snacks or processed cheese for the UAE, the formula you sell today has a limit to meet.

On 6 Oct 2026, the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said it has started implementing a resolution that caps sodium, total sugars and total fat in these foods. Local and imported products are covered, free zones included, from the factory to the shelf.

The headlines say salt, sugar and fat. The detail is more precise, and the detail is what your formula has to meet. Here is what the release says, what it means inside a product, and where I’d start.

Not every food gets every cap #

Bread is the only food with all three caps: sodium, total sugars and total fat. Salty snacks and processed cheese get a sodium cap. Sweetened milk drinks, milk alternatives included, and sweetened or flavoured yoghurt and laban get a sugar cap.

Three details change how you read your own label. Every limit is per 100 g of product, drinks included. The sugar caps are on total sugars, which on a label normally include the lactose that milk brings with it.

The limits are also written as sodium in milligrams, not as salt. And products made only for export are out, unless they are also sold in the UAE.

The numbers, per 100 g #

These are the limits I’d check first. Phase 1 is the first deadline; the final limit applies to everyone by the end of 2030.

One pattern is worth knowing. Every phase-1 limit is exactly 1.2 times the final one, so the final limits sit about 17% below phase 1. A product that only just passes phase 1 has a second round of reformulation ahead of it.

Have a nutrition panel or a lab report to hand? Try your own numbers below, per 100 g of product.

The clock starts on a date nobody has published #

For bread, milk drinks, yoghurt and laban, and salty snacks, phase 1 is due within 9 months of the date the rule takes effect. Processed cheese gets 2 years and 3 months. Both groups must reach the final limits by 31 December 2030.

Stock made or imported before the start date can stay on sale for up to one year, or until it expires, whichever comes first. Penalties range from a warning to a fine of AED 5,000 to 500,000, closure for up to six months, or loss of the licence.

The 20% exception, and who can use it #

If meeting phase 1 would mean cutting an ingredient by more than 20% of its established content in the product, you can ask MoHAP for an exception. You apply within 30 days of the start date.

It only covers products already made, imported or sold in the UAE before that date, so a new launch can’t use it. The request needs technical data, your registered nutrition label data and results from an accredited lab. You still commit to cutting at least 20% in phase 1, and nothing extends past 31 December 2030.

A quick way to spot these products: a cut of more than 20% means today’s level is above 1.25 times the phase-1 limit. For leavened bread, that is anything above 555 mg of sodium per 100 g.

Why you can’t just take the salt out #

This is the part the headlines skip. Salt and sugar carry taste, and they also do structural work in the product.

In bread, salt strengthens the gluten and slows fermentation, so it shapes the dough too. Take some out and the dough can turn slacker and ferment faster, so the process may need adjusting along with the recipe.

In laban and sweetened milk drinks, sugar adds sweetness and body, binds water and softens the sourness. Cut it and the drink can taste sharper and feel thinner. In chips and other seasoned snacks, much of the sodium sits in the seasoning on the surface, which makes the seasoning a natural first place to look.

Take any of them out and texture, taste and shelf life all move. That’s why I’d test them together.

Your first 3 steps #

1. 01

   Lab-test every SKU

   Measure each product against the limit for its category, per 100 g. If you may need an exception, the request needs accredited lab results anyway.

2. 02

   Rank them by the gap

   Biggest gaps first. Flag anything that needs a cut of more than 20%, because the exception window is only 30 days from the start date.

3. 03

   Start trials early

   Test taste and shelf life together: on day one and at the end of shelf life. A recipe that meets the limit on day one but changes by the end of its shelf life isn’t finished.

What I’d do next #

I wouldn’t wait for the start date. The lab tests and the ranking take the same time whether the clock starts next week or next quarter, and the exception window is only 30 days long.

Then I’d start with the product that has the biggest gap and sells the most. It will show you early what the rest of the range is likely to need.

If you’re working through your SKUs, happy to compare notes. Tell me about your product.