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Export Requirements for Saudi Arabia
SA-23 (Apr 18, 2007)
Note: Asterisks (*) indicate the most
recent revision to these requirements. To search, click on your browser's "Edit" menu,
then click on "Find (on this page)". Enter "*" in the "Find What" field, then click "Find" or "Find Next"
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Eligible/Ineligible Products
- Eligible
- Fresh/frozen red meat and offal and further processed red meat products.
- Poultry and poultry products.
- Ineligible
- Beef and lamb/mutton derived from animals originating in a State with
a confirmed outbreak of vesicular stomatitis in
the three months prior to slaughter. Information about the current vesicular stomatitis status can be obtained
from the APHIS website at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahss/equine/vsv/.
Additional information regarding the specific situation in a
State can be obtained from the Technical Service Center.
Labeling Requirements
- All products - Storage temperature must be placed with the refrigeration statement on the boxes to fully clarify the
type of product being handled. (EXAMPLE: "KEEP FROZEN - store at or below ___°C; KEEP CHILLED (OR REFRIGERATE) -
STORE BETWEEN ___°C AND ___°C. "
- Storage temperature must be placed with the refrigeration statement on the boxes to fully clarify the type of
product being handled. (Example: "KEEP FROZEN - store at or below ___°C; KEEP CHILLED (OR REFRIGERATE) -
STORE BETWEEN ___°C AND ___°C."
- Production and expiration dates (See OTHER REQUIREMENTS, section C -- Mandatory Expiration Periods for Food
Products.)
- Fresh/frozen meat and poultry. In addition to the labeling features mandatory in the United States, precut/processed
and packaged meat and poultry must bear the following features:
- Bilingual labels - The Arabic language must be one of the languages used for declaration.
- A Statement must be included on the label that Halal product has been slaughtered according to Islamic
principles.
- Metric net weight:
- Poultry - Chilled whole bird weights can range from 550-1800 g. Weight classes (grades) shall be
divided by a difference of at least 100 g between the classes. There is a tolerance of 50 g within a
class.
- Frozen poultry - Individual birds (units) within each box or carton shall be uniform in size and
weight, with a tolerance not exceeding 10%.
- The use of the terminology "Keep Refrigerated" is not acceptable on labels for frozen
product.
- The following labeling methods may be used as alternatives to comply with Labeling Requirements (Section
B):
- Stickers - Must not interfere with label terminology and be self destructive on removal. Stickers
covering existing labeling information are in violation. Adding stickers for production and expiration
dates is not permissible.
- Inserts - Must be accompanied by production and expiration dates.
- Ink stamp - Ink must be indelible and legible. (Ink stamps are the least desirable labeling method.)
- Processed meat and poultry
- Features required on processed meat and poultry labels:
- bilingual labels with labeling features mandatory in the United States,
- metric net weights,
- identification of pork products (including lard), and
- production and expiration dates (See OTHER REQUIREMENTS, section C -- Product Arrival and Expiration
Date.)
- A Certificate of Islamic Slaughter is not required for processed meat and poultry products. If processed
products are labeled with Halal claims, then origin raw materials must be from Muslim- approved operations and be
accompanied with appropriate certificates supporting Islamic Slaughter.
- Prepackaged processed meat and poultry product requires the following:
- Net weight.
Documentation Requirements
Certification Requirements:
- Beef and mutton
- Obtain FSIS Form 9060-5, Meat and Poultry Certificate of Wholesomeness.
- The following statements must be provided as an FSIS Letterhead Certificate:
- The meat is from animals of an average age of ____ and is subject to veterinary examination not
more than 12 hours prior to and immediately after slaughter and found free of disease and suitable for
human consumption.
- The animals originated from herds under State supervision for the diseases regulated by the State
or the United States Department of Agriculture.
- The animals for slaughter were given careful veterinary inspection and found free from clinical
signs of infectious and contagious disease.
- The United States has been free of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) since 1929.
- The product was prepared, handled, stored and transported under hygienic conditions.
- The product is in conformity with pertinent United States regulations concerning production,
storage, and transport.
- There have been no outbreaks of vesicular stomatitis, rinderpest, peste des petis ruminants,
contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, lumpy skin disease, Rift Valley Fever, bluetongue, sheep pox, goat
pox, theileriosis hemorrhagic septicemia (Asian-type), bovine brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, bovine
babesiosis, contagious agalactia and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia in the State of origin in the 3
months prior to slaughter.
- The product has not been stored with products that have not passed inspection.
- The feeding of ruminant protein (meat meal and bone meal) to ruminants is prohibited in the
United States.
- Based on a national residue program, the product does not contain harmful residues of substances
with hormonal effect.
Note: The meat letterhead certification statements have been discussed with Saudi import officials and are believed to meet the
Saudi certification requirements.
- Poultry and Poultry product
- Obtain FSIS Form 9060-5--FSIS Meat and Poultry Certificate of Wholesomeness.
- The following statements must be provided as an FSIS Letterhead
Certificate:
- The birds were subject to veterinary examination not more than 12 hours prior to and immediately
after slaughter and found free from disease and suitable for human consumption.
- The birds originated from flocks under State supervision for the diseases regulated by the State
or the United States Department of Agriculture.
- The birds for slaughter were given careful veterinary inspection and found free from clinical
signs of infectious and contagious disease.
- The product was prepared, handled, stored and transported under hygienic conditions.
- The product is in conformity with pertinent United States regulations concerning production,
storage, and transport.
- There have been no outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (fowl plaque), lethal-type
Newcastle disease, fowl typhoid and pullorum disease in the State of origin in the 3 months prior to
slaughter.
- The product has not been stored with products that have not passed inspection.
- The United States Food and Drug Administration prohibits the use of growth-stimulating hormones
in poultry feeds.
Note: The poultry letterhead certification statements have been discussed with Saudi import officials and are
believed to meet the Saudi certification requirements.
- Note: Frozen product may require a statement that "Product was
frozen 72 hours after slaughter." The application of the statement is
unclear at this time, however FSIS can certify this statement if
requested by the exporter and verified to be true. More information will
be provided if it becomes available.*
- All certificates must be dated and have the signature and title of an FSIS veterinarian.
Other documentation requirements are included in "Information Regarding Halal Certification and Producer/Manufacturer
Self-Certification". FSIS is not responsible for certifying that products intended for export meet these additional
requirements.
Handling/Storage Requirements
Saudi Arabia requires that instructions for consumers concerning storage, preparation and other special handling requirements
accompany all shipments.
Other Requirements
- Saudi Arabian Import Inspection
- Laboratory sampling - Random samples collected on all meat and poultry products entering Saudi Arabia are
examined for:
- Salmonellae - product rejected when more than 2 of 5 sub-samples are positive.
- E. Coli - no tolerance in ground beef.
- Growth bacteria - maximum 10,000,000/gm.
- Volatile nitrogen - beef: maximum 20 mg./100 gm.; Poultry: maximum 50 gm./ 100 kg.
- Species identification tests for pork are routinely run on all product.
- When frozen poultry sample is thawed, the amount of water collected should not exceed 5 percent. Saudi
Arabian officials recommend that U.S. industry run test prior to shipment to assure that product is not detained
on arrival.
- Detained product - If product is detained, an appeal must be made in person by a Saudi Arabian broker or consignee to
the Saudi Ministry of Commerce. Appeals are decided on a case-by-case basis.
- Mandatory Expiration Periods for Food Products
- Saudi Arabia requires that production and expiration dates be declared on the label of the package for each
food product in an uncoded manner as follows:
- [Day-Month-Year] for food products having an expiration period up to 6 months.
- [Month-Year] for food products having an expiration period exceeding 6 months.
The use of any of the following statements for expressing the expiration date is permissible. It is
mandatory to mention the production date:
- Use by: _________(date),
- Fit for ______ from the date of production,
- Use before _______ (date),
- Sell by _______ (date)
- In case of production and expiration dates in month and year only, the expiration period shall be calculated
up to the end of the registered expiration month.
- Dates shall be printed or stamped with permanent ink directly on all packages or on their original label by
the producer only. Adding stickers for production and expiration dates is not permissible. There shall not be
more than one date of production or date of expiration on the same package. Both dates shall not be subject to
deletion or change.
- Saudi Arabia requires mandatory expiration periods for the following chilled food products (to be stored at
temperatures from 0-5 degrees C):
- For chilled meat packed under carbon dioxide atmosphere within suitable containers eliminating gases
exchange, the expiration period shall be no more than 90 days from the slaughtering date at a temperature
of -0.5 +/- 1 degree C.
- For edible organs and fats such as kidneys, heart, brain, tongue, poultry giblets, etc under suitable
containers, the expiration period shall be no more than 7 days from the slaughtering date (except brain
and testis which shall not no more than 5 days)
- For edible organs and fats such as kidneys, heart, brain, tongue, poultry giblets, etc. packed under
vacuum in suitable plastic containers, the expiration period shall be no more than 51 days from the
slaughtering date at a temperature of -0.5 +/-1 degree C.
- For edible organs and fats such as kidneys, heart, brain, tongue, poultry giblets, etc. packed under
carbon dioxide atmosphere in suitable containers, the expiration period shall be no more than 90 days
from the slaughtering date at a temperature of -0.5 +/-1 degree C.
- For poultry meat packed in suitable plastic containers, the expiration period shall be no more than
7 days from the slaughtering date.
- For beef and buffalo meat packed in suitable containers, the expiration period shall be no more than
21 days from the slaughtering date.
- For mutton and goat meat packed in suitable containers, the expiration period shall be no more than
14 days from the slaughtering date.
- For meat packed under vacuum in plastic containers, the expiration period shall be no more than 10
weeks from the slaughtering date.
- Expiration dates for other frozen, chilled, or canned meat and meat products are voluntary. Requests for more
information about these or other shelf-life standards should be submitted to the Food Department at the Saudi
Arabian Standards Organization (SASO), Telephone No. 966-1-4520-166.
- Product transiting third country ports must be sealed with a USDA seal and the seal number and container number must
be typed in the "Remarks" section of FSIS Form 9060-5.
Plants Eligible to Export
All Federally inspected plants are eligible to export to Saudi Arabia.
Information Regarding Halal Certification and Producer/Manufacturer Self Certification
The following is presented as information for the exporter. FSIS is not responsible for certifying that products intended for
export to Muslim countries meet appropriate requirements for religious slaughter. Procedures for export certification do not
include agency oversight of the Halal process or review of the authenticity of the Halal certificate.
Islamic Slaughter Certification
The exporter must obtain a Certificate of Islamic (Halal) Slaughter from a member of an Islamic Center or Islamic organization.
Products bearing Halal label claims must be accompanied by an appropriate Halal certification or a written assurance from the
exporter that an appropriate Halal certificate will be supplied to accompany that shipment before it reaches its destination.
A Certificate of Islamic Slaughter is a certificate issued by a member of a Moslem organization recognized by the importing
country to provide this service; the certificate states that animals were slaughtered according to Moslem religious requirements.
Processed products with Halal claims should also be accompanied by an appropriate Halal certificate. The certificate must be
endorsed by the Arabian-American Chamber of Commerce or by Arabian Consul and must accompany all shipments.
Arabian-American Chambers of Commerce
- NATIONAL U.S.-ARAB CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
1625 Eye Street NW Suite 902
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 331-8010
Fax (202) 331-8297
- U.S.-ARAB CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
135 South Lasalle Street Room 1020
Chicago, Illinois 60603
(312) 782-0320
Fax (312) 782-7379
- U.S.-ARAB CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
1231 Market Street
San Francisco, California 94101-7239
(415) 552-8202
(213) 646-1499 branch office in Los Angeles
For additional assistance regarding halal slaughter requirements:
The Embassy of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20037
(202) 342-3800
Fax (202) 342-0271
Producer/Manufacturer Self Certification
In addition to the above certifications, the exporter must obtain a producer/manufacturer self-certification for all shipments of
fresh, frozen, or processed bovine, mutton, or poultry meat to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to comply with additional Saudi
Arabian requirements not related to food safety or animal health. The text of the self-certification that must accompany exports
of fresh, frozen, or processed bovine or mutton meat can be found at
http://www.usmef.org/MembersOnly/files/06_0126_saudibeefcleanfinal.pdf and the text of the self-certification that must
accompany export of poultry meat can be obtained from the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council at 770-413-0006. This text must be
printed on letterhead of the appropriate producer/manufacturer (including name and address) and signed by the
producer/manufacturer. FSIS will not certify any of the statements within this self-certification.
SA-23 (Apr 18, 2007)
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