Article 6 of the Saudi Food Law

This article sets the scientific approach the Food and Drug Authority relies on when it sets or updates technical regulations and standard specifications for food, which is the principle of risk analysis.

Risk analysis, under the definition in Article 1, is a scientific approach that aims to assess how dangerous food is and how to control risks, and it rests on three interrelated elements:

1. Risk assessment.
2. Risk management.
3. Risk communication.

To understand this, it helps to refer to two other definitions in Article 1: risk is the degree of likelihood of an adverse effect on human health and the severity of that effect as a result of exposure to hazard sources in food, and a hazard source is a biological, chemical or physical agent in food, or a condition that may make it harmful.

The practical effect of this article is that the requirements the Authority sets are supposed to be built on a scientific assessment of the hazard, its likelihood and its severity. This article comes after Article 5, which requires the Authority to take international food standard specifications into account, so international reference and scientific risk analysis come together in building the rules.

The article is directed at the Authority itself, so it does not impose a direct obligation on food establishments, but it explains the basis on which the requirements those establishments comply with are built.