Jordan Sets New Health Rules for Frozen Potato Imports
Jordan has approved sanitary measures for imports of frozen par-fried potatoes and natural potato chips for 2026. Suppliers must provide plant-health, origin and food-safety documentation, while goods shipped before the rules take effect will be exempt.
New import conditions approved for 2026
Jordan’s Higher Food Committee at the Jordan Food and Drug Administration has approved special sanitary measures for imports of frozen par-fried potato products and natural potato chips for 2026. Khaberni reported that the decision was published in the Official Gazette on Thursday.
The measures introduce a mandatory documentary condition for import clearance. Importers of the covered potato products must attach a phytosanitary certificate, or an equivalent document, issued by the country of origin. The requirement places responsibility on suppliers and importers to ensure that plant-health documentation is available before consignments enter Jordan.
The published measures do not identify particular supplying countries, shipment volumes or product values. Their immediate commercial significance therefore lies in market access: exporters that cannot provide documents in the required form may face difficulty clearing future shipments, while compliant manufacturers can continue serving Jordan under the new framework.
HACCP and ISO 22000 certificates required
Importers must also provide the Jordan Food and Drug Administration with valid HACCP and ISO 22000 quality and food-safety certificates for the manufacturing facility. Both certificates must be issued by an accredited body. This requirement extends compliance beyond the individual shipment to the systems operated by the factory that produced the goods.
The products must comply with all provisions of Jordanian technical rule 1409/2005 and Jordanian technical rule 505/2002, including their amendments. The two rules were issued by the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organization. Importers will consequently need to check both the product specifications and the supporting certification before arranging shipments.
For foreign processors, the combined conditions create several documentary checkpoints: evidence of plant health from the origin country, accredited food-safety certification for the manufacturing site and conformity with Jordanian technical rules. Importers may need to verify these records with suppliers earlier in the purchasing process to reduce the risk of incomplete files when cargo reaches a port, public warehouse or customs center.
Local factories also face documentation duties
The instructions cover local factories that use imported potatoes as production inputs. These plants must apply all conditions governing the import of production inputs and attach a certificate of origin for imported potatoes obtained from official sources approved by Jordan’s Ministry of Agriculture. They must also provide a certificate for the agricultural fields, issued by official authorities in the country of origin.
This provision means the compliance requirements are relevant not only to importers of finished frozen par-fried potatoes and natural chips, but also to Jordanian processors sourcing potatoes from abroad. Traceability must extend back to the origin of the raw material and the agricultural fields linked to it.
The measures will enter into force 30 days after publication in the Official Gazette. A transitional exemption applies to goods for which bills of lading were issued before the effective date and which are present in ports, public warehouses or customs centers. The exemption limits disruption to cargo already dispatched, while new orders and later shipments will need to meet the full set of requirements.