Dubai Food Product Registration: ZAD, FIRS and Montaji Explained

Many guides describe Dubai Municipality's Montaji portal as the place to register food products. For ordinary packaged food, that is not how the system works. Montaji is Dubai Municipality's platform for consumer products such as cosmetics, personal care products, health supplements and detergents. Food items go through a different route: the federal ZAD platform and Dubai Municipality's own food item registration and label assessment service, which importers reach through the FIRS and ZADI portals.

This guide explains which system does what, who has to register, what the application asks for, when laboratory testing applies, and how registration connects to releasing a shipment. Where a fee, processing time or validity period could not be confirmed from an official source, we say so.

Key Takeaways

Food must be registered in ZAD before it is traded. Under Ministerial Decree No. 239 of 2018, food that is imported, produced locally, or changed in its label, ingredients or composition must be registered in the federal ZAD system before being handled in UAE markets.
In Dubai, registration and label assessment happen through Dubai Municipality's "Register and Assess a Food Item" service, which importers use through the FIRS and ZADI portals.
Montaji is not the channel for ordinary packaged food. It covers consumer products such as cosmetics, perfumes, health supplements, detergents, antibacterial products and food contact materials.
Laboratory testing is risk-based, not automatic for every product. According to the USDA's 2025 UAE import report, food items registering for the first time for import into Dubai undergo testing by Dubai Municipality based on product risk and how often the item is imported.
Each pack size counts as a separate food item, and any change to the label, weight, packaging or barcode after approval needs a new label assessment.

Montaji, ZAD, FIRS and ZADI: Which System Does What?

System	Operated by	What it is used for
ZAD	Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE), developed with Dubai Municipality	The federal smart portal for food trade. Food businesses register their companies and food items, search registered items, check banned food lists, and get no-objection certificates to move food consignments between emirates.
FIRS (Food Import and Re-export System)	Dubai Municipality	Dubai's food import system. Importers register food items, request label assessments, submit import and re-export requests, and follow up on fees and fines.
ZADI	Dubai government platform	An integrated platform for Dubai food import services: food import requests, re-export requests, food item registration, label assessment, customs services and customs declarations.
Montaji	Dubai Municipality	Registration and verification of consumer products such as cosmetics, personal care products, perfumes, health supplements, detergents, antibacterial products and food contact materials.

ZAD went live on 1 April 2018. At launch, Dubai Municipality said it had integrated FIRS with ZAD, so food would no longer need separate registration in each emirate. According to the USDA, once a product is registered in ZAD, the importer can apply for an import permit and ship through any UAE port.

If you sell health supplements, cosmetics or food packaging materials, Montaji is relevant. If you import or make packaged food, your route is ZAD plus Dubai Municipality's food item service. Some categories, including certain dairy products, juices and beverages, also need a UAE Certificate of Conformity under the Emirates Conformity Assessment Scheme (ECAS), run by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MOIAT). Check with MOIAT whether your product is in scope.

Who Needs to Register Food Products?

The legal basis is Federal Law No. 10 of 2015 on Food Safety. Article 7 says food manufacturers, producers and importers must register their products before trading them. Article 8 says no food may be imported for the first time unless approved by the Ministry through a national approval and registration system. Ministerial Decree No. 239 of 2018 set up that system, known as ZAD.

In practice, this means:

Importers register each food item before applying for an import request. USDA guidance for exporters notes that registration is done by the UAE importer, so overseas manufacturers usually work through their importer or distributor.
Local manufacturers register food they produce in the UAE, just as importers do.
Anyone changing a registered product must register again if the label, ingredients or composition change.
Re-exporters in Dubai need label approval for consignments meant for re-export as well as those meant for local sale. Dubai Municipality runs a separate service for approving the release of food imported for re-export.

Two points often catch businesses out: a 100 g and a 200 g pack of the same product are separate food items that must each be registered, and a label changed after approval (packaging, weight, text or barcode) needs a new assessment.

What the Application Asks For

The core of a food item application is product data and images, not a large bundle of certificates. Dubai Municipality's food item service lists two documents: the label of the food item and a product photo. Through the portal, you also enter structured product details. Dubai Municipality's ZAD user guide lists:

Trade name, brand, product name and manufacturer
All ingredients used to make the product
All food additives used
Attachments: copies of the label and product images

More documents may be needed depending on the product and its claims. According to the USDA, ZAD registration requires a copy of the label and packaging, plus an official certificate from the competent authority in the country of origin to back up any health or nutrition claims. For registration through FIRS, importers upload health and laboratory certificates. Certain categories such as meat, fish and eggs need a government health certificate at import. If you claim a product is halal, you need a certificate from an approved halal certifier. Only the UAE national halal logo may be used on packs.

Dubai Municipality's label assessment guidance says the product details in the application should match the label exactly. Mismatches between the form and the artwork cause avoidable delays.

How Food Registration Works in Dubai: Step by Step

This sequence draws on Dubai Municipality's service information, its ZAD user guide and the USDA's 2025 UAE import report. Portal screens change, so follow the live wording.

Step 1: Set up company access

Create a Dubai ID, which is linked to your Emirates ID, and register your company in the system. According to the USDA, getting FIRS access involves an online application with company details and a copy of your trade license. After approval, you can use the system for food item registration, label assessments and import or re-export requests.

Step 2: Search the food item catalogue

Before registering a new item, search the catalogue to see whether it is already registered. You can search by barcode, country of origin, net weight or trademark. The ZAD guide also lets you register a new item based on an existing one.

Step 3: Enter the food item details and upload the label

Fill in the trade name, brand, manufacturer, ingredients and additives, then upload the label and product images. Dubai Municipality asks for label images in artwork form where possible, uploaded upright, so reviewers do not have to rotate them.

Step 4: Complete the label assessment

Dubai Municipality assesses the label against local specifications from MOIAT, GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) standards, the Codex Alimentarius, and European rules on food additives. The main labeling standard is UAE.S GSO 9, which covers labeling of prepackaged foodstuffs. If the label needs changes, you receive an assessment report explaining them. According to the USDA, an import request can only be made once both product registration and label assessment are successful.

Step 5: Provide samples for laboratory testing if required

Dubai Municipality decides whether testing is needed and which tests to run. According to the USDA, first-time items for import into Dubai are tested based on product safety risk and import frequency. Samples go to the Food and Environment section of Dubai Municipality's Central Laboratory, the number of samples depends on the tests requested, and results can take up to five working days depending on the test. If the lab finds an ingredient or additive that is not on the label, the item is rejected.

Step 6: Submit the import request and clear the consignment

With the item registered and the label approved, submit an import request through FIRS or ZADI. You will need the port of entry, airway bill number, arrival date and country of origin. When the goods arrive they may be inspected against the details in the system. Once inspection and quarantine clearance are done, the importer pays customs duty and releases the shipment. FIRS tells you if a shipment is held or rejected, and you can appeal through the same portal. Dubai Municipality handles this final step as a separate service: releasing imported food consignments for sale in the local market.

What Label Reviewers Check

Most avoidable rejections start with the label. Based on UAE.S GSO 9 as summarized in the USDA's 2025 report, the label must include:

The product name, in a prominent position
Ingredients in descending order of proportion, with additives named by their functional class
A nutrition declaration
Net quantity
Name and address of the manufacturer, or of the packer if different
Country of origin
Production and expiry dates where shelf life is mandatory, and storage conditions if they affect the date
Instructions for use, a coded batch or lot number, and the animal source of any animal-derived ingredient
Mandatory warnings and declarations
Arabic text, with any other language matching the Arabic exactly

There are some specific rules as well. Six synthetic colours (E102, E104, E110, E122, E124 and E129) must be marked on the label with a warning about possible effects on children's activity and attention. The source of gelatin, lecithin, mono- and diglycerides must be declared. Titanium dioxide (E171) has been banned as a food additive since 31 March 2023. Arabic translation stickers are allowed, but they must be submitted during label assessment, applied as a single sticker before export, and must not hide required information or contradict the original label. For the full labeling picture, see our UAE food labeling requirements guide and our front-of-pack nutrition labeling guide for the GCC.

Fees, Processing Times and Validity: Check the Live Service Card

Earlier versions of this article listed fixed government fees, a certificate validity period and a timeline in business days. We have removed them. The figures published online disagree with each other, and we could not confirm any of them on a live Dubai Municipality page. Fees also change, and testing or consignment release may be charged separately.

Check current fees and service times on Dubai Municipality's food safety services page, under "Apply to Register and Assess a Food Item" and "Apply to Release Imported Food Consignments for Sale in Local Market".
Don't assume a registration lasts a set number of years. Any change to the label, pack size, weight or barcode needs a new assessment.
Allow time for laboratory testing if it is requested for a first-time item.

Common Reasons Registrations Get Delayed

Wrong channel: submitting packaged food through Montaji.
Form and label mismatch: brand, name, net weight or ingredients differ from the artwork.
Unregistered pack sizes or label changes: each size is its own item, and changes after approval need reassessment.
Undeclared ingredients or additives: found in testing, they lead to rejection.
Sticker problems: Arabic stickers that hide required information, contradict the label, or were not assessed.
Halal claims: no approved certifier, or a halal logo other than the UAE national mark.
Missed ECAS requirement: some dairy, juice and other products also need a MOIAT Certificate of Conformity.

Preparing Label Content Before You Submit

The portals check what you submit. They don't create it. Whether a label passes is mostly decided earlier: a correctly ordered ingredient statement, accurate nutrition values, allergen declarations, and Arabic and English text that match. RecipeBuilder is recipe management and labeling software for that preparation work. It does not submit applications to ZAD, FIRS, ZADI or Montaji, it is not affiliated with Dubai Municipality, and approval always rests with the authority.

Get your label content right before registration

RecipeBuilder builds ingredient lists ordered by weight from your recipes, calculates nutrition values using USDA FoodData Central data, generates allergen declarations, and produces bilingual English and Arabic label content. It also exports print-ready packaging artwork and barcodes, so the label you upload for assessment matches the data behind it. Book a call to see how it fits your product registration workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Montaji used to register food products in Dubai?

Not for ordinary packaged food. Montaji is Dubai Municipality's platform for consumer products such as cosmetics, personal care products, perfumes, health supplements, detergents, antibacterial products and food contact materials. Food items must be registered in the federal ZAD system under Ministerial Decree No. 239 of 2018. In Dubai, registration and label assessment go through Dubai Municipality's "Register and Assess a Food Item" service, which importers use via the FIRS and ZADI portals.

Does every food product need laboratory testing at Dubai Municipality?

No. According to the USDA's 2025 UAE import regulations report, food items registering for the first time for import into Dubai are tested by Dubai Municipality based on product safety risk and import frequency. The municipality decides which tests to run and how many samples it needs, and results can take up to five working days depending on the test. Consignments can also be inspected on arrival. If testing finds an ingredient or additive that is not declared on the label, the item is rejected.

How much does food product registration cost in Dubai, and how long does it last?

We don't quote a figure. The fees and validity periods published online disagree, and we could not confirm them on a live Dubai Municipality page. Check current fees and service times on Dubai Municipality's food safety services page before applying, and don't count on a registration lasting a fixed number of years. Any change to the label, pack size, weight or barcode needs a new label assessment.

Do I need to register again if I change my product label?

Yes, in most cases. Under Ministerial Decree No. 239 of 2018, food whose label, ingredients or composition has changed must be registered in ZAD before being handled in UAE markets. USDA guidance for Dubai also says a label reassessment is needed when packaging, weight, label or barcode changes after approval. Each pack size is treated as a separate food item.