The Dubai Municipality Food Code requires every food establishment that imports, sells, prepares, serves, manufactures or distributes food to implement and maintain a documented food safety programme based on HACCP principles, and to employ at least one certified Person in Charge on site. In Abu Dhabi, ADAFSA Regulation 6 of 2010 requires a HACCP-based food safety management system, EFST-certified food handlers, and temperature and calibration records kept for three years. Both regulators inspect the records, not the intention. ASCloud, the paperless food safety system built in South Africa by ASC Food Safety Consultants, loads a requirement set written to the Food Code and Codex HACCP, runs on any phone or tablet, is set up online in Gulf working hours and costs R3,800 per site per month, about AED 856, excluding VAT, as at October 2026.
What the inspector opens first
An inspector in Dubai or Abu Dhabi can arrive at any hour and ask for this morning’s receiving temperatures, the cold room logs for the last month, the Person in Charge’s certificate, the food handler training records, the pest control visit report and the cleaning schedule. A paper file in a back office cannot answer in the time an inspector gives you. On a paperless system every one of those records is a search away, time-stamped and signed by a named person, and a missed check has already escalated to the Person in Charge.
What the Food Code programme looks like on a screen
The hazard analysis for each process, the CCPs with their critical limits, the monitoring checklists that prove each limit, the corrective action that opens itself when a limit is breached, the verification sign-off by the supervisor, and the records of every review. Receiving, cold holding, cooking, cooling, reheating and hot holding temperatures with limits that force an action when breached. Supplier approval with certificate expiry reminders. An inspection pack by date or by Food Code section in one export.
Retention, language and data
The Dubai Food Code requires written audit reports from the last four years to be available on request and purchase and lot records to be kept for at least the shelf life of the product. ADAFSA requires three years for temperature and calibration records. ASCloud keeps every record for the life of the subscription and exports it in full when you leave. We found no requirement in Federal Law 10 of 2015, the Food Code or ADAFSA Regulation 6 for internal records to be kept in Arabic, so English records are accepted in practice and Arabic field labels can be added at setup. Records are hosted in South Africa, with a data processing clause written to the UAE Personal Data Protection Law for the staff records that are personal data.
Hotels, central kitchens and factories
Hotel groups, airline caterers, hospitals and the large retailers across the Gulf widely expect HACCP certification from suppliers and contract caterers, and manufacturers supplying multinational brands are asked for FSSC 22000 or BRCGS. ASCloud carries the same records from the Food Code programme into FSSC 22000 or BRCGS certification when a buyer asks, without starting again. Multi-site groups see every outlet on one dashboard.
Why a South African system in the Gulf
Three reasons come up when Gulf businesses compare: every price is published, in dirhams and riyals, and is published, which most overseas platforms do not do. The standards content is maintained by lead auditors who audit the schemes for a living. And setup is done for you, online, in your working hours, live in five working days. The time zone, UTC+2, overlaps most of the Gulf working day.
See ASCloud with your Dubai or Abu Dhabi site in mind
Online demo in Gulf working hours. Bring your last inspection report and we show each finding closed inside the system. Prices in AED.
Frequently asked questions
Does ASCloud replace Dubai Municipality’s own digital platform?
No. The Municipality’s platform handles registrations, permits and the notifications it requires. ASCloud holds the HACCP-based programme and its records behind those. The two work side by side.
How much does it cost in dirhams?
The full document FSMS is R3,800 per site per month, about AED 856 at the September 2026 reference rate used on the site, excluding VAT, invoiced in rand by international transfer. Online setup from R5,000.
Is on-site setup available in the UAE?
Setup runs online for most sites. On-site days in the Gulf are quoted with travel before anything is booked.
Which standards can a UAE factory load?
Codex HACCP, FSSC 22000 Version 7, BRCGS Issue 9, SQF, IFS Food and ISO 22000, with the Dubai Food Code and ADAFSA requirement sets for establishments.