Article 2 of the Saudi Food Law

This article sets out the purposes for which the Food Law was made, which are four aims:

1. Ensuring food safety and working to improve its quality. Food safety under Article 1 means that food is safe and free of any source of danger during the stages of the food chain until it reaches the consumer.
2. Protecting the consumer's public health by reducing the risks associated with food and spreading sound food awareness.
3. Protecting the consumer from harmful, adulterated, misleading or unfit-for-consumption food.
4. Not obstructing the movement of the food trade, meaning the protection is not intended to hinder legitimate commercial activity.

This article does not create a direct obligation or penalty on its own, but it shows the spirit of the law, so it is used to understand and interpret the rest of its articles, and it makes clear that the law tries to balance protecting people's health with facilitating the food trade.

Article 3 completes this framework by providing that the law's provisions apply to all stages of the food chain, so the preceding aims extend from primary production to selling or distributing free of charge.

For the ordinary consumer, these aims mean he has a right to safe, non-misleading food, and for the merchant or manufacturer they mean he must carry out his activity in a way that fulfills these purposes.