Which Certification Should You Get First as a New Exporter? (2026)

You have decided to export. You start researching certifications. Halal. HACCP. ISO 22000. MeSTI. GMP. FDA. Kosher. Organic. BRC. FSSC 22000. Your browser has 12 tabs open. Each source says something different. Every consultant you have spoken to has a reason why their favourite cert is the one you need first. You are not sure if you need all of them, some of them, or none of them.

This is where most new exporters get stuck. This guide walks through which certification you should get first as a new exporter, why most exporters do not need every cert, and how your specific situation (your product, your target market, your facility or co-packer) decides the order.

Across 8 years shipping snacks to 35 countries at Popsmalaya, I have seen many aspiring exporters freeze at this stage. The list of available certifications is long, the advice is contradictory, and the cost of getting the wrong ones first can be months of wasted time. The honest answer is simpler than the industry suggests.

Who this guide is for

• Manufacturer exporters planning a first shipment and trying to work out which certifications they actually need.
• Brand owners using a contract manufacturer or co-packer who want to know which certifications they personally need (often fewer than they think).
• Aspiring exporters researching before they commit to any specific market or distributor. Take the free XportStack readiness check if you are not sure where you are.

What you will learn

• The 4 categories of certification that show up in export work
• Why you do not need to get every certification
• How to decide which cert to get first, based on your first market
• What brand owners can skip entirely (because their co-packer holds it)
• What to plan for later, as your markets grow

The 4 categories of certification

Every export certification falls into one of four categories. Understanding the categories makes the priority easier to see.

Category 1: Facility-level food safety

These are certifications that confirm your production facility meets food safety standards. They belong to the factory, not to a specific product. Examples:

• GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice): a set of standards for safe food production, recognised internationally.
• Your country's national food safety certification: most countries have a baseline food safety programme issued by their national health or food safety authority. In Malaysia this is called MeSTI (Makanan Selamat Tanggungjawab Industri), issued by the Ministry of Health. In other countries, the equivalent goes by different names (FDA food facility registration in the US, Defra and FSA requirements in the UK, and so on). Check what applies in your country.
• HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points): an internationally recognised food safety management system, required by some markets.
• ISO 22000: an international food safety management standard that bundles HACCP with broader management system requirements.
• BRC / BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standards): a higher-tier food safety standard often required by UK retailers and some EU retailers. Specific product categories (for example, chilled, frozen, or fresh categories for major UK supermarkets) may require BRCGS as a condition of listing. Also used as a benchmark by some global retailers outside the UK.

These are the "you can legally export processed food" certifications. Without at least one, you cannot ship to most markets.

Category 2: Religious and dietary certifications

These confirm that your product meets the standards of a specific religious or dietary segment. Examples:

• Halal certifications issued by country-specific Halal bodies. Required for Muslim-majority markets and for the Muslim consumer segment of any market. Common Halal certifying bodies include JAKIM (Malaysia), BPJPH and the LPH audit network (Indonesia), MUIS (Singapore), the Saudi Halal Center under SFDA (Saudi Arabia), MoIAT and ESMA (UAE), GAC (other GCC), BIRB (Brunei), AFIC and ICCV (Australia), HFA and HMC (UK), and ISA and IFANCA (US). Recognition between bodies varies by market. Your importer or distributor will confirm which certificate the destination authority accepts.
• Kosher certifications: required for kosher markets, and increasingly requested by some premium or specialty retailers in the US (even for products that are not targeting the Jewish consumer specifically). If your distributor supplies US specialty chains, check whether kosher is a listing requirement.
• Organic certifications: required for the organic segment of any market.

You only need these if your target market or target consumer segment requires them. A product sold into mainstream UK supermarkets does not need Halal. A product sold into UAE supermarkets does. Not every product in the US needs kosher, but enough specialty chains do that it is worth asking before you build your US plan around it.

Category 3: Destination-market product registration

These are registrations the destination country requires before a specific product can be legally sold there. They are per product, per market. Examples:

• UAE food registration / Halal or conformity requirements
• SFDA (Saudi Arabia food safety and product registration)
• BPOM (Indonesia)
• FDA Philippines (Philippines)
• SFA (Singapore)
• FSSAI (India)
• US FDA prior notice (United States)

These do not belong to your facility. They belong to your specific SKU in a specific market. You get them one market at a time, and in most markets the importer is the local applicant who files the registration on your behalf using the technical documents you provide.

Category 4: Ethical and social compliance (ESG)

A growing category. Some markets (particularly UK retailers, many EU retailers, and some North American buyers) now expect suppliers to hold social compliance audits in addition to food safety. The most common is:

• Sedex / SMETA audit: SMETA stands for Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit. It covers labour standards, health and safety, environmental practices, and business ethics at the production facility. Sedex is the platform that hosts the audit results, which buyers can then access to verify their supply chain ESG posture.

If your distributor supplies UK supermarket chains or large EU retailers, expect them to ask about Sedex. For smaller markets or specialty distributors, it is rarely a requirement yet, but the trend is toward more buyers asking. Worth knowing before it becomes urgent.

A note on cert bodies

Some markets and retailers prefer certifications issued by recognised brand-name cert bodies (for example, SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, TUV, LRQA, BSI). If your distributor or target retailer has a preferred body, your certification needs to be issued by them to be accepted. Before selecting a certification body, ask your distributor whether they have a preference. This saves you from getting certified by a body that will not be recognised in your target channel.

Why you do not need every certification

Most exporters do not need most of the certifications on the list. The list looks overwhelming because it covers every possibility across every market, product type, and segment. Your actual need is a small subset.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

• You need one facility-level food safety certification, not all four.
• You need Halal only if you are selling into Muslim-majority markets or the Muslim segment of other markets.
• You need destination product registration only for the specific markets you are actually entering, and in most markets the distributor or importer files the registration on your behalf.

Getting certifications you will not use is a waste of money and time. Each cert costs a few thousand USD upfront and takes 2 to 8 months to obtain. On top of that, most certifications need renewal every 1 to 3 years, which means ongoing renewal fees and recurring audit work for every cert you hold. Do that for 5 unnecessary certs and you have spent a year and a five-figure budget upfront, plus recurring costs every renewal cycle, on paperwork that does not help you ship anything.

Reference: cost and time by certification type

Approximate ranges, based on typical costs in 2026. Actual fees vary by the cert body, facility size, and country.

Certification	Upfront cost (USD)	Time to obtain	Renewal
GMP	500 to 3,000	2 to 4 months	Annual audit or every 2 to 3 years, depending on scheme
National food safety (e.g. MeSTI in Malaysia)	700 to 3,500	2 to 4 months	Every 2 to 3 years
HACCP	4,000 to 12,000	6 to 12 months	Annual audit, full recertification every 3 years
ISO 22000	6,000 to 18,000	9 to 15 months	Annual surveillance audit, recertification every 3 years
BRC / BRCGS	8,000 to 20,000	6 to 12 months	Annual audit
Halal (country-specific body)	25 to 3,500+	4 to 8 months	Every 24 months
Kosher	2,000 to 10,000 per year	3 to 6 months	Annual (including ongoing supervision fees)
Sedex / SMETA audit	2,000 to 5,000 per audit	2 to 3 months	Every 12 to 24 months
Destination product registration	Usually paid by importer	3 to 9 months per market	Per market's renewal rules

Costs from recognised brand-name cert bodies (SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, TUV, LRQA, BSI) typically sit at the higher end of each range. Smaller or local certification bodies sit at the lower end. Some retailers and markets require certification from specific bodies, so confirm acceptance with your distributor before choosing.

The priority order for a new exporter

Here is the honest order, starting from what most new exporters face.

Step 1: Baseline food safety for your facility

If you manufacture your own product, start here. You need GMP at minimum, and your country's national food safety certification if your destination market requires it. Without facility-level food safety, you cannot export processed food to most markets. Time to obtain and cost ranges are in the reference table above.

If you use a co-packer, they already hold this. You do not need your own. Confirm their certifications are current and cover your product category before you plan anything else.

Step 2: Halal, if your first market requires it

If your first market is a Muslim-majority market (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Indonesia, Brunei), Halal certification is essential. Plan for this before your first shipment.

If your first market does not require Halal (UK, EU, Australia, Japan, South Korea, etc.), skip this step unless a specific distributor in that market asks for it. You can always add Halal later if you enter a Muslim market. Time and cost ranges are in the reference table.

If your co-packer is Halal-certified and you ask them to add your SKU to their cert scope, you do not need your own Halal certification. Most co-packers handle this as a routine update.

Step 3: Destination product registration for your first market

Only after your facility certifications and Halal (if needed) are in place, start on destination-specific product registration for your first market.

This is market-by-market. You do not register everywhere. You register where you are actually shipping.

Time: 3 to 9 months depending on the market and SKU. Singapore is often faster when the importer is registered and documents are complete. BPOM Indonesia and FDA Philippines can take longer. Saudi and UAE timelines depend heavily on the importer, product category, registration route, labelling, and Halal/conformity requirements.

Cost: In most markets, product registration fees are paid by the importer or distributor, not the exporter. The registration gives the importer the legal right to sell your product in their market, so it is their cost to bear. Your role is to provide the technical documents and product information they need to submit the application.

Step 4: Additional certifications, as markets expand

Only when a specific market or distributor requires them.

• HACCP when you target UK, Australia, Japan, or most EU markets. Required or strongly expected by those markets.
• ISO 22000 when a distributor or retailer specifically asks for it.
• BRC / BRCGS when you are targeting UK retailers, some EU retailers, or certain product categories (chilled, frozen, fresh) where a higher-tier food safety standard is expected.
• Sedex / SMETA when a distributor supplies UK supermarket chains, large EU retailers, or buyers with published ESG supplier requirements. Increasingly common, so worth getting ahead of if any of your near-term markets fall in this group.
• Kosher when you are targeting kosher markets or US specialty retailers that require it for listing.
• Organic when you are targeting the organic consumer segment in any market. For more on this, see the packaging mistake that delays customs clearance.

These are planning items, not starting items. You work toward them as your markets require, not in advance.

If you use a co-packer, your starting list is short

Brand owners using a contract manufacturer have a much shorter starting list. Most facility-level certifications (GMP, MeSTI, HACCP, Halal premise) belong to the co-packer, not to you.

Your list, as a brand owner, starts with:

1. Confirm your co-packer's certifications are current and cover your product category. Ask for scanned copies. Check expiry dates. Check the cert scope.
2. Register your SKU on your co-packer's Halal cert (if selling into Muslim markets and your co-packer is Halal-certified). This is usually a routine update they handle at their next renewal.
3. Get destination product registration for your first market. This is SKU-level and is yours to obtain.
4. Get per-shipment documents as you ship: health certificate from your country's food safety authority, certificate of origin from your local chamber of commerce or trade authority, and the customs declaration filed by you, your trader, or your customs broker depending on origin market practice.

That is often the complete list. No need to certify your own facility, because you do not have one.

Brand owner note: The total upfront cost for a brand owner with a capable co-packer is often under USD 1,500 to USD 3,000 for the first market, compared to USD 25,000+ for a manufacturer starting from scratch.

A simple decision framework

Four questions answer the priority order for almost any new exporter.

Question 1: Do you manufacture your own product, or use a co-packer?

• If manufacturer: start with Step 1 (facility-level food safety).
• If brand owner: skip Step 1 (your co-packer has it) and start with verifying your co-packer's certs.

Question 2: What is your first target market?

• GCC (UAE, Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain) or Muslim-majority ASEAN (Indonesia, Brunei): Halal is essential.
• UK, EU, Australia, Japan, South Korea, US, Canada: Halal is optional, HACCP is usually required or strongly expected.
• Singapore, Philippines, India: Halal is market-segment-dependent.

Question 3: What specific product are you selling?

• Processed packaged food: all the food safety categories apply.
• Beverages: food safety plus beverage-specific labelling per market.
• Cosmetics and personal care: different certification paths (NPRA for Malaysia, cosmetic registration per market). These do not follow the same priority order as F&B.
• Fresh or frozen products: add phytosanitary certificates and temperature-controlled handling requirements.

Question 4: Does your distributor require any specific certification?

• If you have a distributor already, ask them directly what they require. Their answer is the single most reliable source.
• If you do not have a distributor yet, follow the priority order above.

One clear next step

If you are unsure where you are in your export journey and which certifications you actually need, the XportStack readiness check is a 2-minute quiz. Free. It asks about your product, your target market, and your facility, then tells you which certifications to prioritise and which ones to skip.

If you want to see the true margin of your product in a specific market before committing to any certifications, the XportStack margin calculator runs the math in your browser. Free. Your numbers are not stored.

If you are already past first shipment and want the full platform to track every certification, every expiry date, and every renewal, see XportStack pricing. Certifications, shipments, distributors, and margin in one place. Two plans for F&B exporters. Your data stays yours.

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Yasmin Karim is the founder of XportStack, the export operating system for F&B exporters globally. Before XportStack, she built Popsmalaya into a snack brand shipping to 35 countries across 6 continents over 8 years. XportStack exists because every operational problem she experienced at Popsmalaya is one that thousands of other exporters, manufacturer or brand-owner, are dealing with right now, alone, in spreadsheets.

Related reading:

• The 5 Costliest Surprises in an Export Shipment (and How to Avoid Them)
• How to Manage Multiple Export Markets Without Dropping the Ball
• How to Build an Export Business That Runs Without You
• How to Calculate Your True Export Margin (Not Just Gross Margin)