From 1 October 2026 Abu Dhabi ends the three-month grace period: the healthy-menu rules issued by the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi (DCT) and the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC) move to full enforcement. Every DCT-licensed hotel and F&B outlet must offer at least one healthy option per adult-menu category, ≥50% of children's items compliant with SEHHI nutritional standards, and low-sodium salt as the default table option. Here is the checklist for operators before October 1.
What the rule actually requires
The regulation from DCT Abu Dhabi together with ADPHC (under the government Healthy Living initiative) imposes three mandatory requirements on hotel F&B and all DCT-licensed food and beverage outlets:
- Adult menu: at least one healthy option in each category — appetisers, main courses, side dishes, desserts. Compliant dishes are identified through the SEHHI classification.
- Children's menu: at least 50% of items must meet approved nutritional standards from the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre.
- Low-sodium salt: standard table salt is replaced by low-sodium salt as the default table option. Guests can request standard salt on demand, but low-sodium is served by default.
The rules took effect on 1 July 2026. From that date until 30 September there is a three-month grace period to adapt: reformulate recipes, source low-sodium salt, train staff, mark up menus. From 1 October 2026 the framework moves to full DCT enforcement.
What SEHHI is
SEHHI (Arabic 'صحي', 'healthy') is the approved nutritional classification system developed by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre. It identifies dishes lower in fat, sugar and sodium and higher in nutritional value. For F&B operators it is the single benchmark to map recipes to — so that a dish can be labelled as healthy and can therefore count toward the mandatory minimum in its category.
On the low-sodium salt side, DCT cites clinical evidence: a study covering nearly 21,000 participants showed that switching to low-sodium salt was associated with a 14% reduction in strokes, 13% fewer major cardiovascular events and 12% fewer premature deaths. That is the official evidence base for the measure.
Who it covers
The DCT wording is 'hotel restaurants and food and beverage outlets operating under a Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi tourism licence'. In practice that means every F&B point under a DCT tourism licence in Abu Dhabi: hotel restaurants across all categories, lounge bars, in-room dining, catering outlets, banquet halls run by a hotel operator, and separate F&B outlets that hold a DCT tourism licence. An independent restaurant on the mainland without a DCT licence is outside this specific regulation and remains under the parallel rules of ADPHC and the municipality.
What a hotel F&B operator should do before 1 October
- Audit the adult menu. Walk through each section (appetisers / mains / sides / desserts) and confirm at least one dish per section meets SEHHI. If not — add or reformulate.
- Children's menu. Recount the share of items compliant with ADPHC standards. If below 50%, add or replace items — in practice this usually means revisiting desserts and drinks.
- Salt. Order low-sodium salt from suppliers (partial substitution of NaCl with KCl or ready blends with reduced sodium content), refresh the table shakers, brief the hostess and servers on defaulting to low-sodium salt (standard on request only).
- Menu labelling. Mark SEHHI dishes on the menu with a badge or icon. Both guests and inspectors need to see that the establishment is compliant.
- Staff training. Servers and chef de rang should explain the difference correctly and recommend SEHHI dishes as an equivalent tasty alternative — not a 'diet variant'. Done well, it doubles as an upsell tool.
The rule fits inside a broader UAE regulatory shift for 2026 — including the updated DCT Abu Dhabi Hotel Classification Manual, VAT changes and corporate-tax compliance. A wider view is in our brief on business regulation in the UAE in 2026.
Statements from officials
Commenting on the rollout, Saleh Al Geziry, Director General for Tourism at DCT Abu Dhabi, said: 'These new policies reflect Abu Dhabi's commitment to making health and wellbeing an integral part of the hospitality experience.'
Dr Ahmed Alkhazraji, Executive Director at Healthy Living, added: 'For us, it's simple — we want the healthy choice to be the easy choice.'
Penalties and compliance risk
DCT has not published a fine schedule for this regulation in open sources as of publication. The mechanics are standard tourism-licence compliance: inspection → notice → sanction on repeat breach, up to temporary suspension of the licence. F&B operators should confirm the exact procedure and the tariffs matrix directly with the Licensing and Regulatory Compliance Department at DCT Abu Dhabi.
Context: an open door into the UAE F&B space
The regulation is a signal for new entrants: DCT sets a quality baseline that the entire hospitality perimeter of the emirate has to converge to. For an entrepreneur planning an F&B concept in the UAE this is both a compliance barrier and a market opening — demand is building for brands with health-forward positioning baked in. A practical starting sequence is in our guide on how to set up a company in the UAE step by step: it covers licence types (including DCT tourism licence), costs and the order of steps from application to opening a bank account.
What to watch next
From 1 October 2026 ADPHC and DCT Abu Dhabi start full-scale compliance monitoring. We will track official updates on the inspection mechanism, sanctions matrix and any expansion of the SEHHI perimeter to other food-service categories — independent restaurants, quick-service, corporate catering. Updates are published on mediaoffice.abudhabi and via the DCT Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre feeds.
