Public Consultation On Draft Provisions of Food Safety and Security Bill to Promote Better Health

The Ministry of Health (MOH) will conduct a public consultation from 16 August to 6 September 2024 to seek views on the draft provisions of the Food Safety and Security Bill (FSSB) that pertain to the promotion of better health for the general public. We invite members of the public to submit their feedback at https://go.gov.sg/fssb-part9and10 by 6 September 2024, 6pm.

2. Food choices have an impact on health and nutrition. The draft provisions will allow MOH to continue with the health promotion measures currently in place under the Sale of Food Act 1973 (SOFA), and implement future measures to promote better health of our population. This aligns with our ongoing efforts to strengthen preventive care and empower Singaporeans to lead healthier lifestyles.

3. This is part of an ongoing public consultation for various FSSB draft provisions conducted by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) and Singapore Food Agency (SFA)¹. The FSSB consolidates and streamlines food-related legislation from eight existing Acts², including the SOFA, into a single Act, to provide an overarching framework to ensure coherence across the entire food value chain, and introduce new powers to enhance SFA's regulatory functions to ensure a supply of safe food for Singapore.

Supporting Better Population Health and Nutrition

4. Unhealthy diets are a major risk factor for chronic diseases. To support better population health and nutrition, and to complement educational and voluntary health promotion efforts, MOH currently administers and enforces food-related health promotion regulations under the SOFA. Examples include the Nutri-Grade labelling requirements and advertising prohibition for Nutri-Grade grade D beverages, and the ban on partially hydrogenated oils as an ingredient in all foods in Singapore.

5. The provisions under FSSB will allow MOH to continue enforcement of existing food-related regulations and allow the implementation of other food-related regulations in the future as necessary, including regulations that will:

a. Prevent or reduce the occurrence of non-communicable diseases of public health interest in Singapore;

b. Help individuals make informed food choices affecting their health and wellbeing and that of their families; and

c. Control the advertising of food or how it is promoted for sale, for the purpose of promoting public health.

6. More details on the draft provisions and the consultation paper can be found on the REACH Portal (https://go.gov.sg/feedbackfssb9and10), SFA's website (https://go.gov.sg/sfa-fssbconsult) or MOH's website (https://moh.gov.sg/econsultation/food-safety-and-security-bill).

¹ More details of the ongoing consultation conducted by MSE and SFA can be found on the SFA website at https://go.gov.sg/sfa-fssbconsult.

² These are: (i) Animals and Birds Act (ABA), (ii) Control of Plants Act (COPA), (iii) Environmental Public Health Act (EPHA), (iv) Feeding Stuffs Act (FSA), (v) Fisheries Act (FA), (vi) Sale of Food Act (SOFA), (vii) Wholesome Meat and Fish Act (WMFA), and (viii) Price Control Act.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

15 AUGUST 2024