Singapore Amends Food Regulations 2023, Targeting Non‑RTE Food

On September 4, 2023, Singapore Food Agency (SFA) issued Food (Amendment No. 3) Regulations 2023, primarily focusing on microbiological standards for non-ready-to-eat (non-RTE) foods. The amendment will come into effect on March 4, 2024.

Major Revisions

In the new amendment, SFA introduces microbiological standards for multiple non-RTE product categories, including non-intact beef products, blood-cockles and oysters, meat and meat products, pasteurized poultry shell eggs and other pasteurized egg products, as well as raw poultry shell eggs and other raw egg products. Below is an example of the microbiological standards for non-intact beef products:

Notes:

1. A "non-intact" beef product refers to a beef product that has undergone a process (for example, injection with a solution, mechanical tenderisation or comminution) that allows pathogens to penetrate below the beef product’s exterior surface into the beef product’s interior.

2. "Small consignment" means: (a) shell eggs: ≤10,000; (b) other article of food: ≤100 kg or 50 units of the article of food.

3. "c" refers to the number of sample units where the bacterial count may be between "m" and "M"; “m” refers to the threshold value for the number of bacteria; "M" refers to the maximum value for the number of bacteria.

4. An article of food complies with a microbiological standard for a pathogen if: (a) All sample units have a pathogen amount ≤ m; (b) ≤ c out of n samples have a pathogen amount within > m and ≤ M.

• SFA standardizes the number of sampling units (n) to 5, with the exception of small consignments where 1 sampling unit will be taken.

• The amendment incorporates standards for emerging pathogens that are recognized to pose significant food safety concern, such as non-O157 Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli.