NutriCheck and Nutrition in Charge: Dubai School Canteen Self-Audits

Dubai Municipality's My School Food programme is shifting school canteen compliance away from relying only on occasional inspections and towards continuous self-checking. Two things sit at the centre of that shift: NutriCheck, the self-audit platform for food suppliers and schools, and the Nutrition in Charge (NIC), the trained person who carries out those audits on the ground.

This guide sets out what Dubai Municipality has actually published about both, and turns the Dubai Food and Nutrition Guidelines and Requirements in Educational Institutions into a monthly preparation checklist. Where official detail is not public, we say so. The hosted copy of the guideline is marked as a draft dated 2 August 2024, so check the My School Food supplier page for the latest version.

Key Takeaways

NutriCheck is Dubai Municipality's self-audit platform, designed to prompt food suppliers and school Persons-in-Charge (PICs) to run regular self-audits of their canteens.
The school food guideline requires canteen self-monitoring monthly by the food supplier's PIC and every quarter by the educational institution's PIC.
The supplier's canteen PIC must be formally trained in both nutrition and food safety and present every shift, with separate PICs for multiple food service areas.
Dubai Municipality's announcement, as reported by Gulf News, said existing hygiene and food safety officers can take on the Nutrition in Charge role. We found no published degree requirement.
Self-audits sit alongside the Municipality's own nutrition audits and routine food safety inspections. They do not replace them.
The guideline lists nine allergen groups that must be declared on the menu, no matter how small the amount.

What Is NutriCheck?

NutriCheck is the self-audit platform Dubai Municipality introduced under My School Food. In its back-to-school announcement for the 2025-26 academic year, the Municipality described NutriCheck as a way to encourage both food suppliers and school Persons-in-Charge to carry out regular self-audits, building accountability and continuous compliance. Food suppliers and school management were encouraged to use it to make sure their canteens meet the guideline.

When the programme was announced in June 2025, Gulf News reported that catering companies supplying food to schools must register and undergo monthly audits. It said these are self-audits run by a designated NIC from either the catering company or the school. The same report described three platform features: an interactive Dubai map showing school nutrition compliance, a built-in checklist to guide schools, and real-time monitoring that lets food inspectors see each entity's audit history.

In other words, a self-audit is a record inspectors can see, so treat every submission as a factual statement about your canteen.

Dubai Municipality has not published audit submission windows, grace periods or corrective-action deadlines for NutriCheck. For those details, check the instructions inside the platform or contact the Applied Nutrition and Awareness Section at nutrition@dm.gov.ae, the address listed in the guideline.

Where Self-Audits Fit in Dubai's School Food Oversight

Section 3.5.2 of the guideline sets out several layers of monitoring, and the Municipality added its own nutrition audits for the 2025-26 school year.

Layer	Who	What the source says
Self-monitoring for canteens	Food supplier's PIC	Monthly, covering food safety, nutrition and stakeholder engagement (Guideline 3.5.2)
Self-monitoring for canteens	Educational institution's PIC	Every quarter (Guideline 3.5.2)
Self-monitoring for production facilities	Food supplier	Checks food safety and nutrition compliance at the production facility. No frequency stated (Guideline 3.5.2)
Food inspection	Dubai Municipality	Suppliers of ready-to-eat high-risk foods to schools should be treated as high risk and inspected at least once every six months (Guideline 3.5.2)
Nutrition audits	Dubai Municipality	Introduced for 2025-26 to check canteen compliance with the guideline, as an additional safeguard to NutriCheck (Municipality announcement)

In November 2025, Khaleej Times reported that a Dubai Municipality assessment of more than 200 schools and over 7,000 food items found limited fruit options and some snacks that exceeded nutritional limits or contained restricted ingredients. A good monthly self-audit should catch problems like these first.

Foodwatch, DM Checked and inspection grades

The guideline refers to Foodwatch, Dubai Municipality's digital food safety platform. Gulf News has since described DM Checked as the revamped version of Food Watch, and reported in September 2025 that DM Checked is used to track canteen performance and approve school menus. You may see either name depending on when a document was written.

Dubai's food inspection grades run from A (excellent) to E (very poor), and the guideline requires an approved school food supplier to hold a verifiable grade of A or B. The grade comes from inspections. NutriCheck is a self-audit tool, and no public source says its results feed directly into the grade.

The Nutrition in Charge and Person-in-Charge Roles

The guideline uses Person-in-Charge (PIC). Launch coverage and the Municipality's training materials use Nutrition in Charge (NIC), a role Gulf News reported was modelled on the food safety PIC in food establishments. The My School Food supplier page lists NIC certification results for both technical experts and persons in charge.

What the guideline requires of the supplier's canteen PIC

Clause 3.2.1.2 lists a trained PIC as a condition for being an approved school food supplier. The PIC must:

be designated and specifically assigned to the canteen in that educational institution
hold an active account on the Municipality's food safety platform (Foodwatch in the guideline text)
have completed formal training in both nutritional requirements and food safety practices
be present every shift
be one of several PICs where the institution has multiple food service areas or locations, because each needs its own

What the school's PIC does

Under clause 3.2.1.5, school management must assign its own PIC who can identify, review and monitor food safety and nutrition requirements. Both the supplier's PIC and the school's PIC are named on the Supply Food To Educational Institutions Form, which is submitted with the weekly menus for approval (clause 3.2.2.3).

Who can be the NIC?

According to Gulf News's report on the Municipality's announcement, existing hygiene and food safety officers can take on the role, or another suitable person can. Coverage described the NIC's job as ensuring nutritional compliance, promoting healthy eating, monitoring food quality, addressing nutrition-related concerns and training canteen staff. The guideline we reviewed does not require a university degree in nutrition or dietetics. We also found no published rule allowing one NIC to cover several schools. The every-shift and separate-PIC requirements point the other way, so plan for enough trained people to cover every shift and every service point.

Dubai Municipality's 2025 NIC training programme had separate tracks for technical experts (nutritionists, hygiene managers, QA officers), senior school and supplier management, chefs and R&D teams, and persons in charge of operations (canteen supervisors, school PICs, nurses). The operations track covered conducting and documenting self-audits in NutriCheck, carrying out corrective actions and keeping operational records.

Separately, section 3.5.1 of the guideline makes Basic Food Hygiene Training mandatory for all food handlers, and lists PIC and advanced PIC training among the relevant courses.

A Monthly Self-Audit Preparation Checklist

The official checklists are the ones inside NutriCheck and the My School Food Compliance Checklist that section 3.5.3 of the guideline points to on myschoolfood.com. Use those as the authority. The list below is only a preparation aid: every item traces back to a clause in the guideline, so you can confirm the canteen is ready before the NIC completes the official self-audit.

Permits, approvals and supplier status

The trade licence is valid and explicitly lists the relevant activity, such as catering, bakery or manufacturing (3.2.1.2).
The food inspection grade is A or B, and there have been no major violations during the supply period (3.2.1.2, 3.2.2.1).
An independent third-party food safety audit is in place (3.2.1.2).
The Food Permit To Educational Institutions is valid, and only foods on the Approved Menu are being sold (3.2.1.3, 3.2.2.4).
The canteen and production facility layout and processes were approved by the Food Safety Department before supply started (3.2.2.1).
The Approved Menu and the weekly menu have been uploaded against the school's QR code on the platform (3.2.2.3).

People and training

A formally trained PIC is present on every shift, with a separate PIC for each additional food service area (3.2.1.2).
Every food handler has completed Basic Food Hygiene Training, and training records are on file (3.5.1).

Menu, nutrition data and labels

Nothing is on sale that is not on the Approved Menu. Any menu change has been approved by Dubai Municipality, and additional or reformulated items are approved only at the end of each term for the following term (3.2.1.3, 3.2.2.3).
Every product has a nutritional assessment based on its recipe, including ingredients and quantities. It was produced with nutrient analysis software, analysis from a Food Safety Department-approved laboratory, or manual calculation (3.2.2.5, 3.2.2.7).
Nutrition information was revalidated and re-approved after any change to a product, its ingredients, proportions or serving size (3.2.2.6).
Every menu item is verified and labelled per serving for calories, carbohydrates, saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. The fuller nutrient information set out in the guideline (per serving and per 100 grams) is available for all items (3.4.8).
Every menu item is classified under Smart Choices, and Daily Smart Choices (Green) items are always on the menu (3.3.2.1).

Allergens

Clause 3.4.9 requires every meal to indicate any allergen present as a main ingredient, compound ingredient, additive or processing aid. Allergens must be labelled or declared on the menu however small the amount. The guideline lists nine allergen groups:

crustaceans
peanuts
soybeans
tree nuts
sesame seeds
fish
eggs
milk
gluten and cereals containing gluten

Each group includes its products. Check that every current menu item's declaration covers all nine groups and matches the ingredients actually in use this month.

Food safety controls

All food suppliers must follow the guideline's 10 Points To Food Safety (3.4.10), which are detailed in Part 2 of the guidelines:

good personal hygiene
preventing the transmission of illness
supplier management
food safety controls
monitoring storage practices
evaluating the menu
pest management
cleaning and disinfection
waste management
allergen management

Use them as the headings for the walk-through part of the monthly self-audit.

School-side items for the institution's PIC

Enough cold storage is provided for lunch boxes not eaten within two hours (3.2.1.4).
The school is registered on the platform and the contracted approved supplier is linked (3.2.1.4).
No unapproved foods, such as orders from online delivery platforms, are on the premises during school hours (3.2.1.6).
The canteen menu is available to parents (3.2.1.9).
The school's quarterly self-monitoring is up to date (3.5.2).

Running the Monthly Self-Audit Well

The guideline sets the frequency but not the method, so the following are practical habits rather than regulatory requirements.

Fix an internal date. Use the same point each month for the supplier PIC's self-audit, and the same point each quarter for the school PIC's.

Walk the floor, then check the files. Look at what is on the counter, in the fridges and in the vending machines before opening the paperwork. Unapproved items are easier to spot in person.

Record what you find. Inspectors can see audit history, so an honest record with corrective actions is worth more than a perfect score that an inspection later contradicts. Log each issue, the fix, who made it and when, and re-check it next cycle.

Watch recipe changes. A new ingredient brand or a bigger portion can change nutrition values and allergens. Clause 3.2.2.6 requires those changes to be revalidated and approved.

Keeping Recipe Records Audit-Ready

Several checklist items depend on recipe data being accurate and up to date: nutrition values per serving and per 100 grams, allergen declarations, and proof that labels were updated when a recipe changed. Nutrient analysis software is one of the calculation methods the guideline accepts. The results still need Dubai Municipality's approval, and the self-audit itself still belongs to your PIC.

RecipeBuilder is recipe management and labelling software built for food businesses in the UAE. It calculates nutrition from ingredient data sourced from USDA FoodData Central and flags allergens from each recipe's ingredients. It also produces bilingual English and Arabic labels, and keeps recipe versions organised, so the figures you submit and the figures on the counter come from the same record.

Keep your canteen recipe data in one place

RecipeBuilder helps school caterers calculate nutrition from USDA FoodData Central data, declare allergens from recipe ingredients, generate bilingual English/Arabic labels, and keep recipe records organised as menus change each term. Book a call to see how it could fit your monthly self-audit preparation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is NutriCheck mandatory for Dubai school caterers?

The guideline requires canteen self-monitoring monthly by the food supplier's PIC and quarterly by the school's PIC. Dubai Municipality presents NutriCheck as the platform for those self-audits, and Gulf News reported in June 2025 that catering companies supplying schools must register and undergo monthly audits. Access and onboarding arrangements can change, so confirm your current obligations with the Applied Nutrition and Awareness Section at nutrition@dm.gov.ae.

Does the Nutrition in Charge need a nutrition or dietetics degree?

We found no published degree requirement. The guideline requires the supplier's canteen PIC to have formal training in both nutritional requirements and food safety practices. Press coverage of the Municipality's announcement said existing hygiene and food safety officers can take on the NIC role. Dubai Municipality runs NIC training with certification, and results are published on the My School Food supplier page.

Can one NIC or PIC cover several schools or canteens?

The guideline points against it. It requires a PIC specifically assigned to the canteen in each educational institution, present every shift, with separate PICs for multiple food service areas or locations. We found no published provision for sharing one PIC across schools, so check with Dubai Municipality before planning cover that way.

Does NutriCheck affect my food inspection grade?

No public source links NutriCheck results to inspection grades. Grades from A to E come from Dubai Municipality food inspections, and approved school food suppliers need an A or B. Gulf News did report that inspectors can see each entity's audit history, so a poor or inaccurate self-audit record could still shape how an inspection goes.