Article 17 of the Saudi Food Law

This article lays down a general rule on who bears responsibility: the food establishment is responsible for ensuring that the Law and its regulations are applied within the food activity under its responsibility.

What does that mean?

• It is not enough for the establishment to wait for an inspection by the Authority to uncover violations; it must itself ensure compliance in its activity.
• The responsibility is limited to the activity under its responsibility, that is, the stage or stages of the food chain that it runs, such as manufacturing, storage or sale.
• The responsibility covers the provisions of the Law itself and of its regulations together.

Under Article 1, a food establishment is any legal entity working in food handling, except family home kitchens.

Specific obligations flow from this general responsibility in the following articles, including Article 18, which requires the establishment to be able to identify the source of the food under its supervision and the establishments that supply it, and to provide the Authority with the information it requests. It also ties in with Article 16, since the establishment must make sure that what it handles does not fall into the cases in which handling is prohibited.

The article itself does not set a penalty, and it does not address how responsibility is divided between the establishment and its employees; other provisions govern those matters.