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Dubai Municipality showcases latest digital services to ensure food safety at Gulfood 2025

• Unified Permit System (UPS) streamlines permit approvals, ensuring faster compliance with food safety regulations.
• Montaji+, an advanced food product regulation platform, features a database of over 1.7 million registered products, enhancing import and export efficiency.

Dubai Municipality will participate in the 30^th edition of Gulfood 2025, the world’s largest annual food and beverage exhibition, taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 17 to 21 February. The Municipality will showcase its latest digital services and initiatives, aimed at facilitating food trade, strengthening supply chains, and ensuring the highest food safety standards in Dubai.

As part of its exhibition portfolio, Dubai Municipality will highlight several key projects, including the Unified Permit System (UPS), a system designed to streamline food permit approvals by automating the verification and compliance processes. Integrated with Dubai’s food inspection framework, UPS ensures faster approvals, enhanced regulatory oversight, and reduced processing times for permit issuance.

Enhancing efficiency in food safety compliance

The Unified Permit System (UPS) has significantly improved permit processing, reducing service delivery time by 75% — from 40 minutes to just 10 minutes — while increasing efficiency in request completion by 65%, cutting processing times from 30 minutes to 10 minutes. By optimising regulatory workflows, the UPS enhances food safety compliance across Dubai’s food supply chain.

Dubai Municipality will also showcase Montaji+, an advanced food product regulation platform that supports food, health, and safety compliance. The platform includes a comprehensive database of over 1.7 million registered products, allowing authorities and stakeholders to manage product approvals, track regulatory status, and facilitate import and export operations.

Montaji+ was developed following benchmarking with more than 12 regional and global organisations, ensuring high flexibility for continuous enhancements based on user feedback. Unlike conventional regulatory tools that provide standalone services, Montaji+ offers a seamless, integrated experience, designed to optimise compliance processes and improve industry efficiency.

Showcasing food safety leadership on a global stage

Dr Naseem Mohammed Rafee, Acting CEO of the Environment, Health and Safety Agency at Dubai Municipality, emphasised the importance of Dubai Municipality’s participation in Gulfood 2025: “Gulfood provides a vital platform to showcase Dubai Municipality’s efforts in ensuring food safety and sustainability. It serves as a global meeting point for researchers and industry experts, fostering collaboration, knowledge exchange, and innovative thinking to advance the food sector regionally and internationally.”

She added: “Through our participation, we aim to highlight Dubai Municipality’s digital services that simplify regulatory compliance, enhance food system sustainability, and ensure resilient food supply chains — delivering efficiency with the least steps and the fastest tools.”

As part of its commitment to food safety and public health, Dubai Municipality conducted inspections on 461,875 food containers in 2024, covering nearly two million food products. These measures ensure that all food products entering Dubai meet strict safety and quality standards, reinforcing the emirate’s global reputation as a hub for high-quality food trade.

Gulfood 2025: A global platform for food industry innovation

Marking its 30^th edition, Gulfood 2025 will bring together over 5,500 exhibitors from 129 countries, offering a global platform for dialogue and innovation in the food industry. The event will feature more than 150 hours of educational sessions, addressing the latest trends, challenges, and advancements in the food and beverage sector.