Saudi Arabia - Export requirements for fish and seafood

Eligible/Ineligible product

Eligible

Live aquatic animals (finfish, crustaceans, bivalve molluscs)
Non-live, wild or farmed, chilled/frozen fish and seafood (finfish, crustaceans, bivalve molluscs)

Pre-export approvals by competent authority of importing country

Products

Products of aquaculture origin (non-live) will have to meet additional requirements, such as adherence to best aquaculture practices.

An import permit may be required
Exporters are encouraged to work closely with their importers to confirm and obtain written details on the additional requirements with the competent authorities
A copy of these additional requirements should be sent to the local Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) office for further review

Establishments – Live aquatic animals

Establishments must be in compliance with Canadian regulations and be licensed under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) for the required activity and appear on the list of Canadian fish and seafood establishments approved for export. Contact your local CFIA office if your establishment is not on this list.

Establishments – Non-live fish and seafood

Establishments wishing to export non-live fish and seafood products to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) must also be approved and appear on the List of exported food establishments to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia administered by the Saudi Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

Establishments wishing to export non-live aquaculture fish and seafood products require valid Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification. The CFIA is not involved in the BAP certification process.

Procedure to update the KSA list for non-live fish and seafood

Please contact your local CFIA office to initiate a request in writing to add, modify, or delete an establishment. For modification and deletion requests, please identify which list(s) the request is for and provide the company name and establishment ID number as they appear on the list. For addition requests, please include the following information:

Part I - Basic establishment information:

establishment identification (ID) number
Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) licence number
company name as it should appear on the export list. The options are:
- legal name of business as it appears on the SFC licence, or
- legal name of business (operating name), or
- legal name of business (vessel name)
physical site address of establishment. For vessels, this should be the primary docking location

Part II - Listing information (provide information for all applicable lists):

A) List for marine fish and aquatic products establishment (fish and seafood that are caught from sea and are exported directly chilled or carry out sorting and freezing activities only)

establishment type (establishment, vessel)
type of processing (freezing, chilling)
scientific name of species
trade name (or common name) of species

B) List for cultured (farmed) fish and aquatic products establishments (fish and seafood that are cultured in sea, rivers and fish pond farms and are exported chilled or frozen)

farming type (land, river, sea)
production type (cages, pond, tank)
type of processing (freezing, chilling)
scientific name of species
trade name (or common name) of species
valid Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification

C) List for processed fish and aquatic products establishments (products that are subject to the following process: removing the head and skin – evisceration – cutting – fillets – canning – drying – smoking – salting – cooking – or those made as nuggets, burgers or sushi, etcetera).

type of processing (for example burger, canned, cooked, cutting, dried, eviscerated, filleted, headless and peeled, nuggets, salted, smoked, sushi)
product type (wild, aquaculture)
scientific name of species
trade name (or common name) of species
valid Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification (aquaculture products only)

Product specifications

Customs authorities may conduct sampling and testing activities on exported products to verify compliance to KSA requirements.

Therapeutants and antibiotics requirements

Fish and seafood products intended for human consumption must meet the relevant criteria as specified under technical regulation SFDA.FD 2481 on Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) of Veterinary Drugs in Food.

Microbiological requirements

Fish and seafood products intended for human consumption must meet the relevant criteria as specified under technical regulation SFDA.FD 1016 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs (PDF).

Technical regulations

Additional technical regulations apply for certain non-live fish and seafood products. Exporters are encouraged to obtain a copy of the relevant technical regulation through their importer. The documents can also be purchased via the GCC Standardization Organization – Standards Store.

For chilled fish – SFDA.FD 380
For frozen fish – SFDA.FD 1753
For frozen fish fillets – SFDA.FD 1406
For chilled shrimp – SFDA.FD 1361
For frozen shrimp – SFDA.FD 582

Packaging, labelling and marking requirements

Exporters are encouraged to confirm with their importers the packaging, labelling and marking requirements prior to exporting.

Documentation requirements

Certificate

Live aquatic animals

Health certificate for the export of live aquatic animals for human consumption from Canada to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (CFIA/ACIA FA1053)

Non-live fish and seafood

Health certificate for export of products of aquatic animal origin for human consumption from Canada to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (CFIA/ACIA FA1017)

The above certificates are Joint Certificates containing both Food Safety/Public Health and Aquatic Animal Health attestations.

Additional information is available on the Aquatic animal export: certification requirements for Saudi Arabia page.

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