What We Do
To achieve our mission, we work closely with government agencies, businesses and consumers to manage food safety and security risks and drive the transformation of the agri-food sector through R&D and innovation.
Our Challenge
As a small and open economy that imports most of our food, Singapore remains vulnerable to supply disruptions from climate change, disease outbreaks and geopolitical uncertainty.
Key Strategies for Ensuring Food Security
SFA adopts a multi-pronged approach to ensure that Singapore has a resilient supply of safe food. The Singapore Food Story 2 is built on four pillars to bring about overall food resilience. The four pillars are: (i) diversify imports; (ii) grow local; (iii) stockpile and (iv) global partnerships.
Diversify Imports
Import source diversification is a key strategy that reduces source concentration risks and supports industry and consumers to switch to other options during supply disruptions. Our food importers can leverage the nation’s trade connectivity to import food from over 180 countries and regions.
Grow Local
Local production provides an assured and regenerative source of food and serves as a buffer in times of supply disruptions. SFA works closely with local farms to tap on technology and innovation to boost farm productivity, build resilience and be future ready.
Stockpile
Stockpiling provides ready food stocks to mitigate the impact of any unforeseen supply disruptions. SFA works closely with the industry to build up our capacity to stockpile essential food items.
Global Partnerships
Global partnerships are essential given the increasing interconnectedness in agri-food trade. SFA will continue to strengthen Government-to-Government relations with like-minded countries to safeguard flows of food to Singapore.
Transforming our Aquaculture Sector
To uplift the local aquaculture sector, the Singapore Aquaculture Plan (SAP) was launched in November 2024. The SAP is a collaborative effort of SFA and key stakeholders to establish a comprehensive blueprint for the future of aquaculture in Singapore.
Alongside this, SFA’s Marine Aquaculture Centre is our R&D hub for tropical marine aquaculture. Through collaborations with the industry and academia, the Centre has cultivated faster-growing Asian seabass through selective breeding. The Centre is also equipped with large-scale indoor aquaculture systems and an R&D-scale feed mill.
Fishery Port as Wholesale Distribution Centre
The Jurong Fishery Port houses the wholesale fish market for the sale and distribution of seafood products in Singapore, and provides services to fishing vessels 24 hours daily. The Port is also where SFA conducts monitoring and inspection of seafood,
in accordance to the prevailing food laws and regulations.
An Integrated Food Safety System
With Singapore’s food supply coming from diverse sources and the emergence of new food and food innovations, it is essential to have a robust food safety system.
SFA has in place a comprehensive, farm-to-fork food safety system to ensure that our food is safe for consumption. We adopt a science-based risk management approach, consistent with international standards, and continuously keep abreast of the latest scientific developments to ensure food safety.
SFA’s integrated food safety system is underpinned by three key considerations:
1. Robust Food Safety Regulatory System Using a Farm-to-Fork Systems Approach
SFA regulates the safety of food from import to primary production and local manufacturing, all the way to food retail. We identify key stakeholders and control points along this farm-to-fork food supply chain.
Key Activities
- Up-to-date and internationally aligned policies on food safety standards
- Accreditation of overseas sources
- Regulation of imports through licensing, inspection and laboratory testing
- Monitoring of local farms and food establishments through licensing, inspection and laboratory testing
2. Science-based Approaches to Assess and Manage Food Safety Risks
SFA uses a science-based approach to assess the level of food safety risks posed at various control points along the farm-to-fork supply chain, based on data from food safety incidents, reports of non-compliances to existing requirements and food testing results. SFA then determines and adopts the appropriate management measures to reduce and mitigate the foodborne risks to consumers.
Key Activities
- Food safety monitoring, research, risk assessment and management
- Food safety assessment of new or emerging food types and food-related activities
- Horizon scanning to generate data-driven insights and get early alerts on food safety incidents
- Strategic alliances with local, regional, and international scientific organisations to stay updated on developments in the food safety landscape
3. Enabling Environment to Achieve Joint Responsibility in Food Safety
Food safety assurance is a joint responsibility of the food industry, consumers and the government. SFA continuously strives to foster an enabling environment that supports and empowers all stakeholders to each play their part.
Key Activities
- Promoting joint responsibility in food safety
- Strengthening food safety competency in the industry
- Educating the public on food safety risks and good food safety practices
- Publishing scientific literature to keep the local and international scientific community updated on food safety developments
NCFS, the cornerstone of our integrated food safety programme
SFA’s National Centre for Food Science (NCFS) is the cornerstone of SFA’s integrated food safety programme. NCFS provides scientific evidence through a slew of scientific approaches such as laboratory testing, applied research, risk
assessment, data science, exposure analysis as well as reference services on both local and international scales. This ensures a supply of safe food in Singapore.
Joint Responsibility in Food Safety and Security
The food industry, consumers and Government all have a part to play in ensuring a supply of safe food.
The Government aims to create an enabling environment by putting in place a regulatory framework to ensure food safety and relevant strategies to safeguard our food security.
Food business operators are responsible for the safety of the food they offer to the public and need to maintain high food safety standards. To strengthen our food resilience, businesses can also actively explore new sources of food and tap on local produce to further diversify supplies.
Consumers can do their part too and adhere to good food safety practices and make informed food safety decisions. We can all contribute to Singapore’s food security by being flexible and adaptable with our food options by switching to alternatives when needed, and supporting local produce.
Educating the Public on Food Safety
From videos, craft activities, comic strips, and travelling exhibitions, SFA produces a wide array of content to educate public schools and members of the public about food safety risks, good food safety practices, and how everyone can play their
part in ensuring food safety.
