On 8 November 2022, the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia issued a proposal to develop guidelines for retroactive labeling of food products such as infant formula. The guidelines apply to imported or domestic infant formula, infant formula for special medical purposes, and milk-based supplementary food for children under three years old. The guidelines aim to combat fraud in food area, strengthen traceability management in the circulation process, and quickly recall substandard food.

The main contents of the draft guidelines include retrospective source code categories (QR code and barcode), scanning information (including product code, digital code, batch number, shelf life, etc.), verification methods, retrospective source labeling requirements (minimum independent sales packages only need to be labeled with QR code, secondary packaging and transporting packaging should be labeled with both QR code and barcode, and the QR code should be labeled on the main display surface of the label).

The proposal has a comment period until December 12, 2022.