Food safety: Operators who flout rules face bans of up to three years under proposed law

SINGAPORE: Stiffer penalties will be imposed on those who flout food safety rules under a new Bill tabled in parliament on Tuesday (Nov 12).
Introduced by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE), the Food Safety and Security Bill seeks to consolidate and refresh current food-related laws, strengthen Singapore’s food safety regime to better protect public health, and tackle emerging food security challenges. 
Under the Bill, maximum penalties will be raised to deter against non-compliance, and will be tiered based on severity and culpability of offences, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said in a media factsheet. 
Higher penalties will apply for repeat offenders and companies, offences that involve unsafe food that causes illness, harm and physical injury, and offences that are committed knowingly.
The Bill proposes that individuals who are repeat offenders will face a maximum penalty of S$50,000 (US$37,600) and/or a jail term of up to two years, while corporate entities could be fined up to S$100,000. 
Those whose licences have been revoked due to fraud or multiple food safety lapses will be barred from holding new licences of the same type for up to three years. 
Individuals that have had their license banned are not allowed to hold executive roles such as CEO or director of the same type of food business, said SFA. 
“This prevents unfit and unsuitable persons from operating food businesses, which could jeopardise human or public health.”
For “egregious licensees” whose licence had been revoked, the Bill will also provide “discretionary powers” to ban their applications for a licence to operate other food businesses at the same or other premises, SFA said. 
Additionally, those who are considered “associates”, such as spouses or relatives, will have their relationship with the disqualified offenders taken into consideration when SFA evaluates their licence application, the agency added. 
Several food operators made headlines this year after customers fell ill from consuming contaminated food. 
In April, operations at Chinese restaurant Peach Garden’s Thomson Plaza branch were suspended for a month after dozens fell ill with gastroenteritis symptoms. 
A mass food poisoning incident at ByteDance’s Singapore office in July saw more than 160 people reporting gastroenteritis symptoms. Two caterers who supplied the food – Yun Hai Yao at Northpoint City and Pu Tien Services at Senoko South Road – had their operations suspended.
Stamford Catering Services was hit with a similar fate when more than 50 people fell ill in October. 
The proposed food safety legislation will also cover the supply of food beyond its sale, including donation and free distribution.
This ensures that food safety is covered across different channels where members of the public might access it, said SFA. 
At present, the agency can only take action against safety lapses for food that is sold. Where there is no sale of food, SFA can only issue directions to address safety lapses such as halting the donation of food until the lapses are rectified.
“As donations pose similar food safety risks to food that is sold, SFA should have powers to take action similar to those for sale of food,” it said. 
Food importers, manufacturers or processors, as well as animal feed producers, will also be required to keep records for recalls and traceability. 
This way, unsafe food and articles that have come into contact with it can be removed from the market in a timely manner to minimise their health impact, said SFA.
Distributors will also be required to provide records relating to recalls within 24 hours when requested by SFA. They will also need to notify the agency when conducting voluntary recalls. 
Meanwhile, the Bill also allows for greater flexibility on the amount of food that consumers can bring into the country. 
Travellers entering Singapore or consumers who buy food products online from overseas will be allowed to import a total of 15kg of food across all categories for personal consumption. 
This is a change from present rules that have individual limits on each food category. Current regulations allow 5kg of meat and seafood, a “small, reasonable” quantity of fruits and vegetables and 30 hen eggs to be brought into Singapore. 
The new Bill also lifts rules on the source countries for meat being brought into Singapore for personal consumption. 
However, food products of higher regulatory concern such as animal blood and game meat will continue to be prohibited, said SFA.
To ensure that Singapore is protected against potential food supply disruptions, the Bill introduced a Minimum Stockholding Requirement (MSR) to allow MSE and SFA to continue administering the country’s rice stockpile.
Under the scheme, rice importers must hold a buffer inventory equivalent to twice their monthly imports. This helps to ensure sufficient rice supply in the market and maintain price stability during periods of uncertainty and supply shortages.
Rice importers who are now required to stockpile rice under this scheme will have to continue doing so under the MSR. 
Under the new Bill, the MSR framework will provide more effective levers to ensure companies comply with the regulation. It will also allow the government to use a similar strategy for other essential food items if necessary in the future, SFA highlighted. 
When asked at a media briefing about other food items that could fall under the MSR scheme, SFA said no other food items are currently subjected to MSR, and it will depend on whether there are any supply disruption concerns.
“We may extend this MSR to other essential food items in the future if deemed necessary for Singapore’s food security,” said SFA’s director-general of food administration, Dr Tan Lee Kim. 
She added that at least six months’ notice would be given to companies. 
Separately, local farms will also be required to develop and carry out a farm management plan to mitigate food safety risks, as well as control water quality and the spread of diseases. 
The plan will provide a structured framework on how farms would undergo waste management, feed management and water quality monitoring, among other measures. 
All farms in Singapore are currently required to be in clean and sanitary condition, with additional biosecurity requirements for poultry farms. 
The Food Safety and Security Bill will also enable the Ministry of Health to promote better public health through diet and nutrition, SFA added.  
The provisions under the Bill have undergone consultations with various industry stakeholders since August 2023. Public consultations were also conducted in phases between March and September.
The government will further consult the industry before imposing any new requirements when implementing the Bill, said SFA. 
The Bill is slated to be tabled in parliament for a second reading in January 2025.