Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism has rolled out a scheme labelling healthier dishes on the menus of hotel restaurants it licenses. The initiative launched on October 1 and currently covers around 20 per cent of restaurants in the emirate.

Dishes that meet specific nutritional standards carry a dedicated "SEHHI" mark, applied to individual dishes rather than to an entire menu. Under the programme's rules, every adult menu section, including starters and mains, must include at least one dish that qualifies for the mark, while children's menus must have at least 50 per cent of items meeting the criteria.

Dr Ahmed AlKhazraji, explaining the goal behind the scheme, said: "You can order whatever you want, but now you will know what the healthier options are," stressing that the aim is not to restrict diner choice but to raise awareness. Rasha Attar added that "information is very important for awareness, but it is rarely sufficient to change behaviour" on its own.

The labelling scheme forms part of a broader set of UAE measures targeting nutrition. New limits on sugar, sodium and fat in pre-packaged foods are being phased in between 2027 and 2030, and from January 1, 2027, supermarkets will face restrictions on how they display products high in fat, sugar and salt. A separate front-of-pack labelling system called Nutri-Mark is also being rolled out for packaged food products alongside these dining-focused measures.