Abu Dhabi's SEHHI programme now asks food businesses for two things: show calorie information at every point where food is served, and make sure at least 30 per cent of what you offer meets the programme's nutritional criteria. The first is a calculation exercise. The second is a menu design exercise, and it is the one most operators underestimate.
This guide explains what SEHHI is, who runs it, what the 2026 workplace guideline actually requires, and how to work out where your menu stands before you register.
What is SEHHI?
SEHHI is the healthy food programme run by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC). It is a public health initiative rather than a food safety licence, which is why it sits alongside, not inside, your normal food safety obligations to ADAFSA.
The programme runs in three strands:
| Strand | Who it applies to | What it asks for |
|---|---|---|
| SEHHI for Supermarkets and Groceries | Supermarkets, hypermarkets, groceries, digital grocery platforms | Reorganising stores and digital shelves so healthier choices are visible and promoted |
| SEHHI for Displaying Calories on the Menu | Restaurants and food establishments | Calorie information shown on menus so customers can see what they are ordering |
| SEHHI Healthy Menus | Food service operators | A defined proportion of the menu meeting SEHHI nutritional criteria |
If you run food service in Abu Dhabi, the second and third strands are the ones that decide what your menu has to show and what it has to contain.
The 2026 workplace guideline
In May 2026, ADPHC expanded SEHHI with a technical guideline aimed at workplaces. Two requirements sit at its centre:
- Calorie information displayed at every food touchpoint. Not just the printed menu — the guideline is written around touchpoints, which covers counters, boards, vending machines and digital ordering.
- A minimum of 30 per cent of items meeting SEHHI nutritional criteria. This is a composition requirement, not a labelling one.
The guideline applies broadly across Abu Dhabi workplaces that serve food or drink, including cafeterias, catering services, vending machines, kiosks and coffee stations. That scope matters: a company canteen operated by a third-party caterer is in scope, and so is the coffee station in the lobby.
Alongside the two headline requirements, the guideline sets out the operating side — registration through the official SEHHI channels, a named focal point inside the organisation, approval of food items, staff training, awareness activity and ongoing monitoring. In practice this means SEHHI is not a one-off submission. It is a programme you join and then maintain.
Why the 30 per cent rule is the hard part
Displaying calories is arithmetic. You calculate each dish, you print the number, you keep it current when the recipe changes.
The 30 per cent threshold is different, because you cannot know whether you meet it until every item has already been calculated and assessed against the criteria. Most operators discover the gap at the point of registration, which is the worst possible moment — the menu is printed, the suppliers are contracted, and the kitchen is already trained on the recipes.
Working it out first changes the sequence. A proper assessment tells you three things:
- Which items already qualify — usually more than operators expect, particularly grills, salads and grain-based dishes
- Which items sit just outside and could qualify with a reformulation — often a change to oil quantity, portion size, sauce base or sodium level
- Which items will never qualify and simply need a healthier companion item on the menu instead
That third category is important. SEHHI does not require you to remove your best-selling dish. It requires a proportion of the menu to meet the criteria. The commercial answer is usually addition and reformulation, not deletion.
Calculation or laboratory analysis?
Both routes produce a calorie figure. They differ in cost, speed and practicality.
Laboratory analysis tests a physical sample and is well suited to a packaged product with a fixed, repeatable formulation. It is poorly suited to a restaurant menu, because every dish would need its own sample, and any recipe change means testing again.
Calculation by a qualified nutritionist works from the recipe: verified ingredient data, tested quantities, cooking method and yield factors, and portion size as actually served. For menus that change seasonally or by outlet, it is the only approach that stays current without repeated cost. It also produces the supporting records you need if an inspector asks how a number was derived — which is the part operators most often cannot answer.
How Abu Dhabi compares with Dubai and Saudi Arabia
If you operate across the region, the requirements are converging but not identical.
| Market | Framework | Core requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Abu Dhabi | ADPHC SEHHI programme; ADAFSA guidance on menu calorie display | Calorie display at food touchpoints, plus a proportion of the menu meeting nutritional criteria |
| Dubai | Dubai Municipality Al Riyada programme and the Guide for Calorie Declaration in Food Establishments, under the National Nutrition Agenda | Calorie declaration on menus in food establishments |
| Saudi Arabia | SFDA, mandatory since 1 July 2025 | Calories on every menu item, a salt-shaker symbol on high-sodium items, and caffeine content on beverages |
For a group operating in more than one market, the practical implication is that a single, well-documented calculation per recipe can serve several declarations. The underlying nutrition data is the same; what differs is the format and the thresholds applied to it.
What to do before you register
- Collect accurate recipes. Not the menu description — the kitchen's actual gram weights, cooking method and served portion. This is where most projects stall.
- Calculate each item. Energy, macronutrients, sodium and the nutrients the criteria assess.
- Score the menu. Establish your true percentage against SEHHI criteria before you commit to anything.
- Close the gap. Reformulate the near-misses; add items where reformulation is not realistic.
- Prepare the declarations. Menus, boards, vending and digital ordering points, in the required format.
- Keep the records. Retain the calculation basis for each item so any figure can be defended and updated when recipes change.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs the SEHHI programme in Abu Dhabi?
What percentage of my menu has to be healthy under SEHHI?
Does SEHHI apply to a company canteen or only to restaurants?
Do I need laboratory testing for menu calories?
How is this different from Dubai's calorie rules?
What happens if my recipes change?
How TheCorpBridge helps
We calculate per-item nutrition through a qualified nutritionist, assess each item against the applicable criteria so you know your real position before you register, and prepare the declarations for menus, boards, vending and digital ordering. Where items fall just outside the criteria, we identify the reformulation options that keep the dish recognisable.
If you also sell packaged product, the same calculation feeds your GSO 2233 nutrition panel and your label assessment, so the work is done once rather than three times. For food businesses building the wider system behind the menu, our food safety consulting and accredited training cover the operational side.
Send us your menu on WhatsApp and we will tell you where you stand.