Healthy Living in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Registration Authority (ADRA), the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development’s (ADDED) arm for regulating and developing the business sector in the emirate, has reinforced its commitment to make healthier living more accessible and sustainable through the launch of a new policy redesigning the in-store layouts and online interfaces of supermarkets across Abu Dhabi. The initiative will ensure that high-fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) food and beverage (F&B) products are no longer positioned in the highest-traffic, highest-visibility locations consumers encounter across the emirate.
The new policy will be mandatory for compliance from 1 January 2027. It regulates the placement and promotion of HFSS F&B within physical and online supermarket retail environments, without restricting their sale. This initiative reflects a practical shift toward embedding preventive health into everyday life, redesigning the environments where consumers shop so that the healthier choice becomes the easier choice. The policy was developed in close collaboration with the Department of Health (DoH), Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC), Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (ADQCC), and the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA).
Under the new policy, F&B products considered unhealthy under the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC) SEHHI classification will no longer be permitted in high-exposure locations, including store entrances, end-of-aisle displays and checkout areas or featured prominently on online supermarket platforms, including home pages, search results, promotional pop-ups, and checkout pages. For physical retailers, the policy applies to stores larger than 4,000 sqft.
Consumers will continue to have full access to their preferred products as the policy simply ensures that less nutritious options are not actively placed in the most visible and high-traffic locations. Products will remain available in-aisle for consumers who wish to purchase them.
His Excellency Mohamed Munif Al Mansoori, Director General of ADRA, said: “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. To this end, we are working closely with relevant entities to meet the growing demands of consumers, placing their health, safety, and well-being at the top of our priorities. Our collaboration with Healthy Living reflects a shared commitment to making healthier choices easier and accessible for all consumers. In addition to ensuring compliance of commercial entities with regulations and standards, we also deliver awareness campaigns that empower consumers to make more informed decisions and better understand the choices available to them in the market.”
His Excellency Dr Ahmed AlKhazraiji, Executive Director of Healthy Living, said: "In Abu Dhabi, our commitment to prevention as the foundation of a healthier society is what Healthy Living was built on, and this policy is a direct reflection of that. Our approach is rooted in behavioural science and real-world evidence, and interventions like this have delivered measurable results globally. When the products consumers encounter first are not the least nutritious options, healthier choices become the natural default - empowering people to make better decisions.
“We are not taking away the joy of food or restricting personal choice, every product remains on the shelf. What changes is visibility and impulse purchase decisions.”
In developing the policy, Healthy Living and ADRA worked closely with retailers across Abu Dhabi to ensure the approach reflects the operational realities of the sector while drawing on international best practices. The policy was informed by evidence from markets where similar initiatives have been successfully implemented.
Retailers across the emirate are now working towards implementation of the standards, with Carrefour being one of the first to complete implementation across its stores in Abu Dhabi ahead of the mandatory compliance deadline.
Ahmed Galal Ismail, Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim Holding, said: “Retailers have a unique opportunity to help shape healthier communities through the everyday choices they enable. Abu Dhabi's Healthy Living Strategy reflects a forward-looking vision that makes healthier choices easier while preserving consumer choices. We are proud to support this ambition and to have achieved compliance with the Responsible Food and Beverage Placement Standards across our Carrefour stores in Abu Dhabi. We remain committed to creating environments that deliver healthier, more convenient shopping experiences for the millions of customers we serve each year."
Healthy Living continues to drive system level changes to make healthier choices easier and more accessible. This policy sits within a growing ecosystem of cross-sectoral initiatives being implemented across government, and in partnership with the private sector under Healthy Living to improve the food environment, spanning responsible out-of-home advertising of food and beverage products, and healthier meal provision in schools. It follows the recent commitment by Al Ain Farms Group, one of the UAE's largest food and beverage manufacturers, to reduce sugar content across its product portfolio.
