Overview of Pre-Market Approval Framework for Novel Food

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Why is there a pre-market approval framework for novel food?

Demand for novel food has been increasing due to growing consumer interest in healthier, more sustainable, and innovative food options.

The FSSA provides a framework for evaluating novel food to ensure consumers here are protected while fostering food innovation. The evaluation is to lead to a pre-market approval to supply novel food in Singapore.

Food safety remains a top priority in Singapore. All novel food intended for supply in Singapore will be rigorously assessed before pre-market approval may be granted for its supply in Singapore.

Who must obtain pre-market approval of novel food?

Anyone who wants to farm, manufacture, distribute or sell novel food in Singapore must ensure that the novel food has pre-market approval.

From 28 November 2025, Parts 5 and 8 FSSA make it an offence to supply in Singapore any defined food, to handle food intended for supply in a way that will or is likely to make the food a defined food, or to produce primary produce that is a defined food.

What is the pre-market approval framework for novel food?

The framework comprises a set of rules and guidelines to ensure the safety of novel food manufactured, imported, distributed, and sold in Singapore.

1. Definition of novel food

Novel food may refer to the following:

A substance (which may consist of, be isolated from or produced from, cell culture or tissue culture derived from animals, plants, bacteria or yeast, fungi, algae or other micro-organism) that has not been used to a significant degree as food for a period of at least 20 years, whether within or outside Singapore;
A food that has been manufactured, prepared or preserved by a process that has not been previously used in food production for a period of at least 20 years, whether within or outside Singapore;
A food consisting of, isolated from or produced from material of mineral origin that has not been previously used in food production for a period of at least 20 years, whether within or outside Singapore; or
A food that contains or consists of engineered nanomaterials.

2. Safety assessments

An applicant for pre-market approval for a novel food must provide safety assessments of the novel food that identify risks and ensure these risks are appropriately managed, accompanied by scientific evidence demonstrating that the novel food as a food or an ingredient in food does not pose a risk to human health.

Details of what is required in an application for pre-market approval can be found in the Second Schedule to the Food Safety and Security (FSSA Authorisations — Administration) Regulations 2025.

3. Pre-market approval

A novel food must be covered by pre-market approval from SFA before it can be lawfully supplied in Singapore, or handled (like manufacturing) for supply here, or reared or cultivated here.

A pre-market approval for a novel food is not perpetual and may be cancelled by SFA under certain conditions set out in section 112 FSSA.

(a) the pre‑market approval had been obtained by fraud or misrepresentation;

(b) any condition of the pre‑market approval is contravened or not complied with;

(i) the method by which the novel food or genetically modified food is manufactured, prepared, preserved, packaged or stored; or

(ii) any other information relating to the novel food or genetically modified food which was provided in connection with the application for the pre-market approval; or

(d) the public interest of Singapore requires the cancellation of the pre‑market approval.

The pre-market approval for a novel food also ends when the food ceases to be a novel food.

Refer to the list of approved novel foods in Singapore

SFA Novel Food Safety Expert Working Group

To ensure rigorous review of safety assessments, SFA established the “SFA Novel Food Safety Expert Working Group” to provide scientific advice. The expert working group comprises 13 experts with diverse expertise across relevant disciplines. More information about the members can be found below.

Members of the Novel Food Safety Expert Working Group:

Chair
Professor John Lim	Executive Director, Centre of Regulatory Excellence, Duke-NUS Medical School Core Lead (Policy), SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute Senior Advisor, Ministry of Health, Singapore Chairman, Consortium for Clinical Research & Innovation, Singapore
Members	Designation	Specialisation field(s)
Professor Zhou Weibiao	Head of Department, Food Science and Technology, National University of Singapore	Food science (Food engineering, food processing and functional food)
Professor William Chen	Director, Food Science and Technology Programme, Nanyang Technological University	Food science (fermentation)
Professor Christiani Jeyakumar Henry	Senior Advisor, Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation, A*STAR	Nutrition
Adjunct Professor Sebastian Maurer- Stroh	Executive Director, Bioinformatics Institute, A*STAR	Bioinformatics (allergenicity prediction)
Adjunct Associate Professor Annie Ling	Group Director, Policy, Research and Surveillance Division, Health Promotion Board	Epidemiology
Adjunct Associate Professor Jeffrey Cutter	Senior Consultant, Communicable Disease Group, Ministry of Health	Public health
Associate Professor Yew Wen Shan	Head, Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore	Precision fermentation and microbiology
Assistant Professor Ching Jianhong	Assistant Professor, Director, Metabolomics @Duke-NUS Medical School	Metabolomics
Professor Chan Chun Yong, Eric	Professor, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore	Pharmacology and Toxicology (physiological-based pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics modelling)
Associate Professor Tan Soo Yong	Head of Advanced Molecular Pathology Laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR	Biobanking, molecular pathology, cancer genomics
Clinical Associate Professor Chua Mei Chien	Head and Senior Consultant, Department of Neonatology	Paediatrics
Associate Professor Linda Zhong Lidan	Director, Biomedical Sciences and Chinese Medicine, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University	Botanicals