Saudi Arabia bans poultry stunning and requires a halal slaughter certificate with every shipment

Saudi Arabia requires halal certification under two GSO standards and prohibits stunning for poultry - and a three-year establishment certificate does not replace the halal slaughter certificate that must accompany each shipment.

USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service in Riyadh published report SA2026-0014 on 21 October 2026 setting out how the Saudi Food and Drug Authority regulates halal food, with particular attention to meat and poultry. Two technical regulations apply: SFDA.FD/GSO 2055-1, "Halal Food - Part 1: General Requirements", which covers the whole chain from ingredients and processing to labelling, storage and transport, and SFDA.FD/GSO 993, "Animal Slaughtering According to Islamic Rules".

The slaughter standard is where poultry exporters need to look hardest. The animal must be alive at the time of slaughter and the throat and major blood vessels cut with a clean, sharp blade; the slaughterer must be trained and of Muslim, Christian or Jewish faith. SFDA prohibits poultry stunning, on the grounds that stunning may kill the bird before slaughter, and the report states that local farms and foreign companies exporting poultry to Saudi Arabia must comply with the stunning ban to access the market.

On documentation, halal slaughter certification is mandatory for shipments of meat, poultry and their products, and the certificate must come from a body recognised through the Saudi Halal Center. A general halal certificate, which confirms that a product or establishment complies, is valid for three years; a halal consignment or slaughter certificate is issued for each individual shipment and is not replaced by the establishment certificate. Where a halal logo is used, evidence supporting the claim must be available at clearance, and the rules extend to segregation from non-halal product and to traceability records, including in transport and storage.

• Stunning: prohibited for poultry under SFDA rules - a plant-level process requirement, not a paperwork item.
• Two certificates, two purposes: an establishment halal certificate valid for three years, plus a per-shipment halal slaughter certificate.
• Certifier recognition: three steps - accreditation through the Saudi Accreditation Center or the Gulf Accreditation Center, registration with SASO, then accreditation by SFDA's Halal Center.
• Scope beyond muscle meat: gelatin, collagen, animal fats, enzymes, rennet and edible offal are covered too.
• Neighbouring markets differ: the UAE and other GCC states work from their own approved-certifier lists, so a Saudi-valid certificate is not automatically the right document elsewhere.

The buying implication is that halal status has to be verified at the plant and with the certifier before a contract is signed, not at the port. A plant that stuns for another market cannot certify the same slaughter line as stunning-free for Saudi Arabia, and a three-year certificate on file says nothing about the container currently on the water. Nau International Food Group supplies halal frozen poultry and frozen meat from HACCP-certified, GACC-registered plants in China (establishment numbers 0900 / 03003), issues halal, veterinary health and certificate of origin documents per shipment, and arranges customs clearance into Dubai including DDP Jebel Ali. For product specifications and current offers, write to info@naufoodgroup.com.

Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, GAIN report SA2026-0014, "Saudi Arabia: Halal Regulations and Certification Body Accreditation", Riyadh, 21 October 2026.