In March 2024, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) released the draft Food Safety and Security Bill (FSSB)[1] for public comments. This new legislation is intended to consolidate existing regulations (e.g., Sale of Food Act and Feeding Stuffs Act) to strengthen Singapore’s food safety and security regime. FSSB also has been notified to the World Trade Organization via G/SPS/N/SGP/86[2] with a comment period due by May 14, 2024.

Among the proposed requirements in the FSSB, it will formalize and enhance the management of the current novel food application procedures in Singapore, which is the pathway used by companies to seek pre-market approval for alternative proteins, e.g., cultured meat, fermentation-based protein, and insect-derived protein. For instance, the authority will specify the form and manner for future pre-market approval applications, e.g., a local contact in Singapore will be needed for application purposes, and an application that does not have the prescribed complete set of data may be rejected. Additionally, new requirements are proposed in the FSSB to address the grant of the pre-market approval, validity of the approval, as well as cancellation and transfer of such approval. Furthermore, pertinent penalties are established in the FSSB, e.g., strict liability will be imposed for a person supplying a food subject to preapproval but failing to obtain it beforehand. 

Under the FSSB, alternative proteins are now considered a sub-category of “Defined Food,” which includes novel foods, genetically modified (GM) foods, and insect-like species, subject to pre-market approval. Specifically, “Defined Food” refers to “food that:

1. is, consists of or has as an ingredient a novel food in respect of which no pre-market approval is granted, 
2. is, consists of or has as an ingredient a genetically modified food in respect of which no pre-market approval is granted, or 
3. is, consists of or has as an ingredient, in any form (whether whole or in parts and whether fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, smoked, salted or in brine, or as flour) an insect-like species which is not a catalogued insect-like species.”

Singapore introduced its novel food regulatory framework in 2019, and more details of this framework can be found in our prior newsletters: Singapore Updates Guidelines for the Safety Assessment of Novel Foods and How to Introduce Alternative Proteins via Tasting Trials in the Netherlands and Singapore. Under the FSSB, alternative proteins will still fall under the category of novel foods, but will be placed under the newly established “Defined Food” sub-category.

For GM food, the Singapore’s Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (GMAC) currently is handling the safety assessment for the release of agriculture-related genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which will then forward its technical review decision to SFA for approval. With the introduction of FSSB, the process for approving GM food will be integrated into the pre-market approval of “Defined Food.” For insect-derived food proteins subject to preapproval, SFA has developed the insect regulatory framework in 2022 and conducted a public consultation[3]. It permits approved species of insects and insect-like species (known as “catalogued insect-like species”[4] in FSSB) with a history of human consumption to be used as foods. The framework is set to take effect later in 2024.

In the meantime, SFA indicated that the above consultation on “Defined Food” is the first of a series of public consultations based on the themes in the FSSB, and more consultations will be launched on other topics, such as the requirements for import, export, and trans-shipment as well as food businesses.

Footnotes

[1] https://www.sfa.gov.sg/food-information/public-consultation/consultations-on-food-safety-and-security-bill-(fssb)
[2] https://eping.wto.org/en/Search/Index?countryIds=C702&viewData=G%2FSPS%2FN%2FSGP%2F86
[3] https://www.sfa.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/consultation-on-regulation-of-insect-and-insect-products.pdf
[4] https://www.sfa.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/publicconsultpart5_annex-i.pdf