UAE Calorie Display Requirements for Restaurant Menus

## Who Must Comply? Since 2019, Dubai Municipality requires all food establishments with **five or more branches** to display calorie counts on their menus. Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism has mirrored this requirement. The rule applies to: - Dine-in menus (physical and digital) - Drive-through menu boards - Delivery app listings (recommended) - Catering menus for events Single-location restaurants are currently exempt but are **strongly encouraged** to display calorie information voluntarily, as the regulation is expected to expand. ## What Must Be Displayed? Each menu item must show: 1. **Total calories per serving** — displayed next to the item name or price 2. **Serving size** — if the item is shareable or comes in multiple sizes 3. **A reference statement** — "Adults need around 2,000 calories a day" The calorie count must be based on laboratory analysis or an approved nutritional database. Estimates are not acceptable for enforcement purposes. ## Penalties for Non-Compliance Dubai Municipality conducts regular inspections. Penalties include: - **First offense**: Written warning with a 30-day compliance window - **Second offense**: Fine of AED 500–2,000 - **Repeated violations**: Potential license suspension ## How Qaima Handles This Qaima's menu builder includes a dedicated calorie field for every item. When a restaurant is registered in the UAE, the platform automatically: - Displays calories in the format required by Dubai Municipality - Adds the daily reference statement to the menu footer - Includes calorie data in the JSON-LD schema for search engines - Exports calorie data for delivery app integration Restaurants can input calorie data manually or upload a lab report, and Qaima formats everything to meet the regulation. ## Practical Tips - **Use a nutritional calculator** for items without lab analysis — tools like MyFitnessPal's API can provide reasonable estimates for common ingredients - **Update calories when recipes change** — Qaima flags items that haven't been reviewed in 6 months - **Display calories for combos and set menus** — show the total, not individual components - **Train staff** to answer calorie questions — the most common guest query after allergens