Abu Dhabi Orders Supermarkets to Overhaul Junk Food Placement by 2027

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Economic Development has mandated a sweeping overhaul of how supermarkets position unhealthy food products, setting a hard compliance deadline of January 1, 2027, for all regulated retailers across the emirate.

The Abu Dhabi Registration Authority (ADRA), the department’s business regulatory arm, developed the policy in partnership with Healthy Living. Under the new rules, products classified as high in fat, salt, or sugar by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre’s SEHHI classification system are barred from prime retail positions: store entrances, end-of-aisle displays, checkout areas, and prominent digital locations such as home pages and promotional pop-ups. The mandate covers physical supermarkets exceeding 4,000 square feet and their online equivalents.

Additional reference context is available at https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/government-news/healthy-living-and-abu-dhabi-registration-authority-introduce-new-responsible-placement-of-food-and-beverage-policy-415091.

Compliance is not optional. ADRA has set January 1, 2027, as the binding implementation date for all retailers within scope.

The policy emerged from coordination across four government bodies: the Department of Health, the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, and the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority. That multi-agency architecture reflects the regulatory weight assigned to the initiative and the breadth of oversight built into its design.

Critically, the framework does not remove products from sale. Items remain available within standard shelving. What changes is their promotional prominence and placement strategy. Retailers must reorganize physical layouts and digital interfaces accordingly, and product unavailability cannot serve as a defence against non-compliance.

Mohamed Munif Al Mansoori, Director General of ADRA, placed the policy within Abu Dhabi’s wider governance priorities. “As Abu Dhabi continues to cement its status as a prominent global business, investment, and economic hub, we remain committed to ensuring that this success is supported by an environment where people can live, work, invest, and thrive,” he said. Al Mansoori also confirmed that ADRA’s mandate extends beyond enforcement to include consumer awareness campaigns supporting informed purchasing decisions.

Meanwhile, at least one major retailer has already moved ahead of the deadline. Carrefour, operating under Majid Al Futtaim Holding, has completed compliance across its Abu Dhabi stores. Ahmed Galal Ismail, Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim Holding, stated that retailers bear responsibility for shaping community health through the choices they enable in their environments. The early adoption positions the company as a compliance benchmark for the sector.

The policy draws on behavioral science research demonstrating that product visibility and placement significantly influence purchasing decisions. Dr Ahmed AlKhazraiji, Executive Director of Healthy Living, noted that comparable interventions have delivered measurable results in other markets. The underlying principle is straightforward: when consumers encounter healthier options first, those options become the default, reducing impulse purchases of less nutritious items without restricting access.

The placement rules sit within a broader ecosystem of government-led food environment reforms. Additional measures include responsible out-of-home advertising standards for food and beverage products and mandates for healthier meal provision in schools, reflecting a coordinated strategy to embed preventive health across multiple systems simultaneously.

The regulatory development process included direct consultation with the retail sector. Healthy Living and ADRA engaged retailers to ensure operational feasibility, aligning the policy with business realities while maintaining consistency with international best practices. That consultation shaped standards retailers can implement without wholesale operational restructuring.

Private sector commitments are reinforcing the regulatory shift beyond the supermarket floor. Al Ain Farms Group, one of the UAE’s largest food and beverage manufacturers, has committed to reducing sugar content across its product portfolio, signaling industry-wide movement toward healthier formulations.

Enforcement responsibility rests with ADRA as the designated compliance monitor. The 2027 deadline gives retailers a defined window to restructure their operations and establishes clear regulatory expectations. Whether the multi-agency oversight model proves sufficient to drive full-sector compliance, particularly among smaller or digitally focused retailers, remains the open question as that deadline approaches.