Quality, certification and destination conformity
How Nahla Abdulla handles product certification, destination conformity schemes such as PVoC, SONCAP, SABER and COSQC, and shelf-life-at-arrival policy.
Quality in this business is a document trail. This page sets out what we certify, what the destination market will require of you, and where the responsibility sits between us.
Certifications we hold
Organisation-level certifications, meaning food safety management, halal certification and any scheme certification we hold, are published on this site with the issuing body, the certificate number and the expiry date, so you can verify them with the certifier.
Where a certification is not listed here, we do not hold it. We would rather show a short list you can check than a wall of logos you cannot.
Product-level certification
Certificates of analysis are issued per lot and travel with the shipment. Depending on the product and the destination, the pack will also include some combination of health certificate, phytosanitary certificate, halal certificate and certificate of origin.
Halal certification is available for the food and personal care products that require it and is mandatory in most of our GCC and West African lanes. The certifying body matters: some destination markets recognise only certifiers on their own approved list, and a certificate from an unrecognised body will be rejected at the border regardless of its technical validity. Tell us the destination at enquiry stage and we will confirm which certifier is acceptable.
Destination conformity schemes
Most of the markets we ship into operate a pre-shipment conformity regime. These are the ones that come up most often:
| Market | Scheme | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | KEBS PVoC | Pre-export verification of conformity. Inspection happens before the container sails. |
| Nigeria | SONCAP | Product certificate then a SONCAP certificate per shipment. |
| Nigeria | NAFDAC | Separate product registration for regulated food and cosmetics, held by the importer. |
| Saudi Arabia | SABER | Product and shipment certificates through the Saber platform. |
| Iraq | COSQC | Conformity certificate issued before shipment. |
| East African Community | EAC TR CU | Regional standards mark. |
The critical point about all of these is that they are pre-shipment. Inspection and certification happen before the container leaves. Arranging conformity after the container has sailed is expensive, sometimes impossible, and routinely results in the consignment being held, re-exported or destroyed at the importer's cost.
If you tell us your destination at enquiry stage, we will tell you which regime applies and build the inspection into the schedule. If you tell us after the container is booked, we will have to rebook it.
Shelf life at arrival
What matters is the shelf life still remaining when the container clears customs at destination.
Several markets enforce a minimum remaining life at import: commonly half the total, and two thirds for dairy and infant products. On a lane with a long transit and a slow clearance queue, a product that left Dubai comfortably inside its life can fail that test on arrival.
Every specification page on this site states a minimum shelf life at loading. That figure is what we will commit to on the proforma invoice. If your market enforces a specific rule, tell us and we will confirm the production date before the proforma is issued.
Where responsibility sits
We are responsible for the products conforming to the specification on the proforma, for the certificates we issue, and for loading within the shelf-life commitment we have made.
You are responsible for holding any import licence or product registration your market requires, and for the accuracy of the destination requirements you give us. We will tell you what we know about a market, which is what the guides on this site are for, but we cannot hold a registration on your behalf and we will not ship into a market where a required licence is not in place.
Common questions
- Is halal certification available?
- Yes, for the food and personal care products that require it. Note that some destination markets recognise only certifiers on their own approved list, so tell us the destination at enquiry stage and we will confirm which certifying body is acceptable.
- What is PVoC and when does it happen?
- Pre-export verification of conformity, required by Kenya among others. Inspection takes place before the container sails. It cannot be arranged after shipment.
- What minimum shelf life will you guarantee at loading?
- The figure stated on each product's specification page, which is what we commit to on the proforma invoice. If your market enforces a specific remaining-life rule at import, tell us and we will confirm the production date before issuing the proforma.
- Do you hold destination-market product registrations for buyers?
- No. Registrations such as NAFDAC in Nigeria are held by the importer. We will tell you what a market requires, but we cannot register on your behalf and will not ship where a required registration is absent.