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More unsafe food slipping in
By Jessica Lim
These processed foods range from tea leaves with colouring to flour that has been excessively bleached to cordials with too much preservatives; the more extreme examples have included melamine-tainted milk and salmonella-laced peanut butter. -- PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
BLAME it on a growing demand for new, exotic foods and free-trade agreements opening up a way for them to come in. More importers here are getting caught for bringing in unsafe food products.
These processed foods range from tea leaves with colouring to flour that has been excessively bleached to cordials with too much preservatives; the more extreme examples have included melamine-tainted milk and salmonella-laced peanut butter.
The number of cases of food-safety breaches shot up by a quarter, from 176 in 2007 to 219 last year. Importers are allowed to bring in only licensed products which comply with the Singapore Food Regulations Act. When the stocks arrive, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) tests random samples for contaminants.
There are several ways unsafe foods slip through the cracks under this system:
* One is that importers are let down by unreliable overseas suppliers;
* Another is that importers are unclear about the regulations imposed on certain foods and;
* Thirdly, they are slipshod with their own checks.
Importer Auric Pacific Marketing, which brings in wine and condiments, gets about one product rejected by AVA each year.
Its spokesman Kenneth Ng said: 'The source usually gives us the go-ahead for the product, but sometimes its information is not accurate.'
By Jessica Lim
These processed foods range from tea leaves with colouring to flour that has been excessively bleached to cordials with too much preservatives; the more extreme examples have included melamine-tainted milk and salmonella-laced peanut butter. -- PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
BLAME it on a growing demand for new, exotic foods and free-trade agreements opening up a way for them to come in. More importers here are getting caught for bringing in unsafe food products.
These processed foods range from tea leaves with colouring to flour that has been excessively bleached to cordials with too much preservatives; the more extreme examples have included melamine-tainted milk and salmonella-laced peanut butter.
The number of cases of food-safety breaches shot up by a quarter, from 176 in 2007 to 219 last year. Importers are allowed to bring in only licensed products which comply with the Singapore Food Regulations Act. When the stocks arrive, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) tests random samples for contaminants.
There are several ways unsafe foods slip through the cracks under this system:
* One is that importers are let down by unreliable overseas suppliers;
* Another is that importers are unclear about the regulations imposed on certain foods and;
* Thirdly, they are slipshod with their own checks.
Importer Auric Pacific Marketing, which brings in wine and condiments, gets about one product rejected by AVA each year.
Its spokesman Kenneth Ng said: 'The source usually gives us the go-ahead for the product, but sometimes its information is not accurate.'
