Dubai Municipality displays a package of its innovative digital services to ensure food safety during Gulfood 2026

Dubai Municipality is participating in the 31st edition of the Gulf Food Exhibition “Gulfood 2026”, the largest annual food and beverage exhibition in the world, which is held at the Dubai World Trade Center between January 26 and 30. The Municipality is showcasing a package of its latest innovative digital services and qualitative initiatives aimed at facilitating food trade in the region and ensuring the highest standards of food safety in the Emirate of Dubai.

Dubai Municipality’s participation in the Gulfood exhibition confirms its keenness to enhance the sustainability and safety of the food system while ensuring the provision of flexible food supply chains and creating an attractive environment for investors and entrepreneurs to develop their projects. It also reflects its continued commitment to improving the efficiency of the system that starts from the country of import to inspection at ports, examination in the laboratory, and then control of food traded in the local market to provide the best level of quality of life, health and safety.

During the exhibition, Dubai Municipality launched a specialized laboratory to detect insect residues in food products, in a step that reflects its forward-looking vision to develop an advanced laboratory system that operates in accordance with the best international practices and standards in the field of food safety.

During the recent period, the Dubai Central Laboratory worked to develop an integrated laboratory equipped with the latest laboratory equipment and technologies, supported by tools specially designed to enable accurate and rapid detection of insect residues in food products, ensuring the highest levels of accuracy and reliability in the results.

The laboratory is currently going through the trial operation phase, which is expected to end during the first quarter of this year, after which samples will be received and laboratory tests will be officially conducted, which will contribute to strengthening the food safety system and raising Dubai’s readiness to keep pace with global developments in this field.

The initiative comes in light of the rapid climate changes that have affected the availability of natural resources, and the accompanying global trend towards adopting alternative and sustainable sources, including the use of specific types of insects as a protein source in food products, based on international legislation and standards approved during the past year.

In addition, the list of Dubai Municipality initiatives and services at the Gulf Food Exhibition included several projects, including: The Microscopic Exploration Unit project provides the latest advanced technologies in the field of laboratory tests used in the Dubai Central Laboratory, and prepares samples for virus testing using advanced robotic arms. In the same context, Dubai Municipality will participate with its audience in the “Rashid Robot” exhibition, which will provide interactive services and introduce and guide them to the innovations of the Dubai Central Laboratory.


In the field of food safety, Dubai Municipality is presenting its latest innovations in the field of developing the food system, enhancing its safety, and improving the efficiency of the services it provides in the food sector, which include: “smart glasses” for food inspection in ports and food establishments, which contribute to transforming inspection operations within ports and warehouses into fully digital and remote inspection, which raises work efficiency and reduces the need for the field presence of inspectors, while maintaining inspection accuracy, transparency, and adherence to regulatory requirements.

In addition, it will display the “Montaji Plus” system, which is an integrated system for organizing the trading of imported and exported products under one umbrella that brings together food, health, and safety. The system includes a huge database containing more than 1.5 million registered products, which contributes to enhancing the processes of importing and exporting products and monitoring and tracking them with high efficiency.


The system displays all services as an integrated journey for the customer and not as independent services, which includes three stages: registration, import, and export. The system’s plan and design were also created after conducting standard comparisons with more than 12 entities at the regional and global levels, as it is characterized by high flexibility in continuous improvement based on user feedback and feedback.

A virtual assistant named “Ghalia” was also designed, supported by artificial intelligence technology developed by the municipality, to provide immediate support and accurate answers about food safety and school nutrition guidelines in Dubai, and to meet the needs of students, parents, and food suppliers, to facilitate access to information quickly and efficiently.

Acting Executive Director of the Environment, Health and Safety Foundation in Dubai Municipality, Dr. Naseem Mohammed Rafi, confirmed that the Gulf Food Exhibition is a pioneering platform that brings together researchers and experts from the pioneers of the food and beverage sector to exchange experiences, present and adopt innovative ideas, and build partnerships that contribute to the development of this sector at the regional and global levels.

Dr. Naseem said: “Dubai Municipality is leading the future of food safety in Dubai by promoting innovation and digital transformation in the food system and sector to be more advanced and sustainable. Advanced technology and smart technologies are a major factor in enhancing inspection accuracy, transparency, speed of response and providing a sustainable food system, and providing innovative digital services and qualitative initiatives aimed at facilitating food trade in the region and ensuring the highest standards of food safety in the Emirate of Dubai. Our goal is for the food safety system to be integrated and sustainable, providing flexible food supply chains and safe levels. And health through a series of journeys aimed at enhancing quality of life, health and food safety.”