On 17 November 2022, the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia released three proposals to revise three food standards. The specific contents include:

(1) Revision of the Ground Meat and Poultry Standards, mainly including the addition of terms such as pure minced meat, the addition of soy protein minced meat, the addition of the fat content in lean minced meat should not exceed 5%, and the addition of health requirements for imported ground beef;

(2) Revision of the Canned Meat Standards, The main contents include: new canned corned beef with heat treatment, new definition of canned corned beef, supplementary regulation that the content of ground meat in canned meat shall not exceed 5%, the maximum amount of nitrites in canned corned beef shall be 50mg/kg, the content of water in canned meat shall not exceed 53%, the content of protein shall not be less than 21%, etc.

(3) Revision of the Luncheon Meat Standard, The main contents include the revision of product definition (ready-to-eat meat products made of animal meat or poultry meat with other raw materials added after heat treatment and molding), the supplementary regulation that edible organs and organs shall not be added to luncheon meat, the fat content shall not exceed 30%, the meat content shall not be less than 80%, and the new product labeling requirements (for example, the animal type of meat raw materials should be labeled).

The period for comments on the proposals ends January 17, 2023.