RIYADH: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected 37 shipments containing 408 tons of imported food, of which 250,000 kilograms were rice, during the month of RabI’ Al-thani this year.

The FDA said in a statement on its website that the denial of the entry of the imported food to the Kingdom was due to violations of technical regulations and approved standards, such as insufficient mandatory explanatory data cards for the products.

The FDA said the rejected products represent 0.064 percent of the released shipments, which amounted to 45,279 shipments weighing 637,901 tons.

Rice topped the list of violating food products banned by FDA inspectors, followed by meat at 71,638kg, vegetables and fruit at 48,332kg, milk products at 18,964kg, drinks at 10,140kg, coffee and tea at 4,225kg, pasta at 2,725kg, poultry at 1,139kg, oils and fats at 850kg, and grains at 200kg.

The total volume of shipments containing violating product cards amounted to 358,894kg, while shipments with products containing physical violations amounted to 25,928kg, and shipments with products containing chemical violations amounted to 23,634kg.

New developments have contributed to facilitating procedures and increasing controls on imported food, especially with the launch of the electronic release system in 1435 AH at all ports, as well as with the electronic black list system for banned products launched in 1435 AH, which also plays an important role in tightening controls on imported food.