Introduction: Why Front-of-Pack Labeling Is Coming to the GCC
Front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOPNLs) are designed to give consumers a quick, at-a-glance understanding of a product's nutritional profile without needing to read the detailed nutrition facts panel on the back. Around the world, governments are adopting — or mandating — FOPNL systems as a tool to combat obesity and diet-related disease. The GCC is no exception.
The UAE has already introduced the NutriMark system on a voluntary basis, and Saudi Arabia's SFDA has signaled its intention to implement a front-of-pack labeling requirement aligned with its national nutrition strategy. For food businesses operating in the Gulf, understanding the major FOPNL systems, how they work, and what they require is no longer optional — it is a near-term operational necessity.
This guide covers the six most prominent FOPNL systems globally, examines the specific approach being taken in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and outlines what food businesses need to do to prepare.
NutriMark: The UAE's Own System
NutriMark is the UAE's homegrown front-of-pack labeling system, developed by the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (now part of MoIAT) in collaboration with nutrition scientists and public health authorities. The system uses a graded scale — typically displayed as a logo on the front of the package — that rates a product's overall nutritional quality based on its content of energy, saturated fat, sodium, sugars, fiber, protein, and fruit/vegetable content.
Products receive a rating that communicates at a glance whether the item is a healthier choice within its category. The rating algorithm is nutrient-profile-based, meaning it considers both negative nutrients (those to limit, such as sugar and sodium) and positive nutrients (those to encourage, such as fiber and protein). The system is designed to work across food categories, although category-specific thresholds may apply.
As of early 2026, NutriMark remains voluntary. However, the UAE's National Nutrition Strategy includes the adoption of a mandatory FOPNL as a medium-term objective. Food businesses that begin incorporating NutriMark into their packaging now will have a smoother transition when mandatory adoption is announced. Calculating a product's NutriMark rating requires accurate per-serving nutritional data — which reinforces the importance of maintaining precise recipe-level nutrition calculations for every product in the portfolio.
Nutri-Score: Europe's Widely Adopted Model
Nutri-Score is one of the most widely recognized FOPNL systems globally. Developed in France, it has been adopted — either mandatorily or voluntarily — in several European countries including France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. The system uses a five-tier color-coded scale from A (dark green, best nutritional quality) to E (dark red, lowest nutritional quality).
The Nutri-Score algorithm evaluates products per 100g, scoring negative points for energy, saturated fat, sugars, and sodium, and positive points for fiber, protein, and fruits/vegetables/legumes/nuts. The net score determines the letter grade. The system has been praised for its simplicity and consumer comprehension but has faced criticism for not accounting for portion sizes and for sometimes penalizing foods that are traditionally considered healthy (such as olive oil and cheese) due to their fat or calorie content.
For GCC food businesses that export to Europe, Nutri-Score compliance is already relevant. Understanding the algorithm allows businesses to model how their products would score and to make informed reformulation decisions. Even in the GCC, elements of the Nutri-Score approach — particularly its nutrient profiling methodology — have influenced the development of local systems like NutriMark.
Traffic Light Labels: The Color-Coded Approach
The traffic light system, pioneered in the United Kingdom, uses red, amber, and green color coding to indicate whether a product's content of fat, saturated fat, sugars, and salt is high, medium, or low per serving and per 100g. Each nutrient is evaluated independently, so a product might carry a green indicator for fat but a red indicator for sugar.
The traffic light system is valued for its transparency — consumers can immediately see which specific nutrients are of concern in a given product. It is also relatively straightforward for food businesses to implement, as it requires calculating the four key nutrients per serving and per 100g and comparing them against established thresholds published by public health authorities.
In the GCC context, traffic light labeling has been discussed in the context of school canteen food and food service operations. Abu Dhabi's school nutrition guidelines, for example, reference traffic light color coding for meals served in school cafeterias. RecipeBuilder supports traffic light label generation, enabling food businesses to automatically calculate and display the appropriate color codes for each nutrient based on the recipe's nutritional profile. This is particularly useful for catering companies that need to produce traffic light displays for rotating menus.
Warning Labels: The Latin American Model
Chile introduced a mandatory warning label system in 2016 that has since been adopted, in various forms, by Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay, and Argentina. Under this approach, products that exceed defined thresholds for calories, sugar, sodium, or saturated fat per serving must carry prominent black octagonal warning labels on the front of the package. The labels use simple text — such as "High in Sugar" or "High in Sodium" — without color gradients or scoring scales.
The warning label approach is considered the most direct and impactful of the FOPNL systems. Research from Chile has shown that warning labels significantly reduce consumption of high-sugar and high-sodium products, particularly among children and lower-income consumers. The simplicity of the system — a product either carries a warning or it does not — eliminates the ambiguity that can arise with graded systems.
While no GCC country has adopted warning labels as of early 2026, Saudi Arabia's SFDA has studied the model closely, and it remains a possibility for future implementation. Food businesses should be aware of the warning label thresholds used in Latin American markets and evaluate how their products would fare under such a system. Products that would trigger warnings under a warning label system are also likely to score poorly under graded systems like NutriMark or Nutri-Score.
Health Star Rating: Australia and New Zealand's Model
The Health Star Rating (HSR) system, used in Australia and New Zealand, assigns products a rating from 0.5 to 5 stars based on their overall nutritional profile. Like Nutri-Score, the HSR algorithm evaluates both negative and positive nutrient components. The star rating is displayed on the front of the pack, and businesses may optionally display per-serving information for energy, sodium, sugar, and saturated fat alongside the star rating.
The HSR system has been credited with driving reformulation in Australia, where manufacturers have modified products to improve their star ratings. The system is voluntary but widely adopted, with major retailers and manufacturers using it across a broad range of product categories. The visual simplicity of the star rating — more stars equals a healthier product — has strong consumer recognition.
For GCC food businesses that export to Australia and New Zealand, understanding the HSR algorithm is important. The system also serves as a reference point for policymakers in the Gulf who are evaluating which FOPNL model best suits their market. The HSR's approach to balancing positive and negative nutrients may influence how GCC systems evolve.
Nutri-Grade: Singapore's Beverage-Focused System
Singapore's Nutri-Grade system, introduced in 2022, takes a different approach. Rather than applying to all food products, it focuses specifically on beverages. All non-alcoholic beverages sold in Singapore must carry a Nutri-Grade label grading them from A (healthiest) to D (least healthy) based on their sugar and saturated fat content. Products graded C or D are prohibited from certain forms of advertising.
The Nutri-Grade model is relevant to GCC food businesses for two reasons. First, the GCC's own sugar tax framework, discussed elsewhere in this blog, reflects a similar focus on beverages as a priority category for nutritional intervention. Second, Singapore's approach — targeting a specific product category with a mandatory, graded label — may influence how GCC regulators phase in their own FOPNL requirements, starting with high-impact categories before extending to all foods.
Preparing Your Business: Practical Steps for FOPNL Readiness
Regardless of which specific FOPNL system the GCC ultimately mandates, the underlying requirements for food businesses are consistent. Every system requires accurate, per-product nutritional data. Every system requires that this data be calculated based on the actual formulation, not estimates or approximations. And every system requires that labels be updated when formulations change.
Start by building a complete nutritional profile for every product in your portfolio. Ensure that the profile covers all nutrients used in major FOPNL algorithms: energy, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, total sugars, added sugars, sodium, fiber, and protein. Use a recognized nutritional database — such as the USDA FoodData Central or region-specific databases — to calculate these values based on your actual recipes.
Next, model your products against the major FOPNL systems. How would each product score under NutriMark? Under Nutri-Score? Under a traffic light system? Under a warning label system? This exercise reveals where your portfolio's vulnerabilities lie and where reformulation could have the greatest impact. Platforms like RecipeBuilder allow businesses to generate these analyses directly from their recipe data, providing a rapid way to evaluate the portfolio without waiting for external laboratory testing.
Finally, establish a process for maintaining FOPNL readiness over time. This means linking your recipe management system to your labeling and packaging workflows so that any formulation change triggers a recalculation of the product's nutritional profile and, if applicable, its FOPNL rating. The goal is a system where nutritional data flows seamlessly from the recipe to the label, with minimal manual intervention and maximum accuracy.
The Regulatory Outlook: What to Expect in the GCC
Industry observers and regulatory insiders broadly agree that mandatory FOPNL in the GCC is a question of when, not if. The UAE's NutriMark system provides the most likely foundation for a mandatory scheme in the Emirates. Saudi Arabia's SFDA is expected to announce its approach — possibly drawing on elements of multiple international systems — within the next one to two years. Other GCC states will likely follow the lead of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as has been the pattern with previous labeling and food safety regulations.
For food businesses, the strategic implication is clear: invest in nutritional data infrastructure now. The businesses that already have accurate, product-level nutritional data — maintained in systems that can adapt to new labeling requirements — will be able to respond quickly when mandatory FOPNL is announced. Those that do not will face a scramble to generate data for potentially hundreds of products under tight regulatory timelines.
Conclusion: Front-of-Pack Labeling as a Differentiator
Front-of-pack nutrition labels are coming to the GCC. The exact system, timeline, and requirements remain to be finalized, but the direction is clear. Food businesses that prepare now — by building accurate nutritional profiles, modeling their products against major FOPNL systems, and investing in digital tools that keep their data current — will not only be ready for mandatory adoption but will be able to use FOPNL as a competitive differentiator. In a market where consumers are increasingly health-conscious and regulators are increasingly demanding, the ability to display a favorable front-of-pack rating is a tangible business advantage.