Details on Stepped-up Surveillance for Central Kitchens, Including Different Classification for those Supplying School Meals

13 Mr David Hoe asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what does the targeted and stepped-up surveillance entail in practice for central kitchens under SFA's risk-based food safety inspection regime; and (b) whether SFA will consider classifying central kitchens supplying school meals as a distinct higher-risk tier and subjecting them to sustained stepped-up surveillance, in view of large volumes served to children and heightened consequences and disruptions from any lapse.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (Ms Goh Hanyan) (for the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment): Central kitchens are licensed by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). They are subjected to more frequent inspections as they have a larger scale of food processing or preparation. This is consistently applied to central kitchens and caterers serving all consumers, including other vulnerable consumers such as persons in nursing homes.

In addition, central kitchens are graded under the Safety Assurance for Food Establishment (SAFE) framework. In the event of a major food safety lapse, they will be downgraded upon completion of suspension or Court conviction and inspected more regularly. The up-to-date representation of the establishment’s food safety performance via its SAFE grade allows service buyers and consumers to have a peace of mind to make more informed decisions on the food establishment to procure from.

Since August 2025, SFA has stepped up checks on central kitchens supplying school meals under the Ministry of Education's (MOE's) Central Kitchen Meal Model programme.

SFA and the Communicable Diseases Agency will continue to work closely with MOE schools and their appointed central kitchens to strengthen the food safety management systems from kitchens to when the food is transported, stored and distributed for consumption.

Mr Speaker: Mr David Hoe.

Mr David Hoe (Jurong East-Bukit Batok): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for her response, in particular, about the frequent inspection for the central kitchen. Against this backdrop, I have four supplementary questions.

First, let me begin upstream. What kind of assurance does SFA give on compliance and safety for ingredient suppliers to our central kitchens? Because they prepare and they distribute quite a significant amount of food.

On the second topic – which would be about our target population, which is our children – beyond frequent inspection would the Ministry consider placing more safeguards on central kitchens, given the vulnerable young children and also the impact if such lapses were to occur again?

Third, on operator selection. What assurance mechanism would there be for schools to be confident that the central kitchen operators are fully compliant with SFA requirements, not only just at appointment, but on an ongoing basis?

Lastly, before food distribution, what kind of requirements and checks must be met before it is being sent out? And in light of the recent incident, would SFA consider tightening the requirements before food can be sent out?

Ms Goh Hanyan: Sir, I thank the Member for his four supplementary questions. I will reply in turn.

The first one was about assurance around ingredient suppliers in central kitchens. First, SFA requires all importers and manufacturers to comply with food safety requirements and central kitchens and in fact, all food establishments should source from these licensed importers and manufacturers. SFA also, of course, inspects central kitchens to ensure food handling is done properly and there is proper segregation between raw ingredients and food products. That is for the first supplementary question from the Member.

The second one was about what we can do beyond more frequent inspections. As I covered in my main reply, beyond more frequent inspections, and this is largely due to the larger scale of food preparation and processing that caterers and central kitchens do, additional inspections are also done on these central kitchens if they are found to have repeated food safety lapses. So, there is an additional step-up in terms of frequency of inspections.

I think it is also important to then note that these gastroenteritis outbreaks are due to more than one factor usually. And this is not just from issues that arise from the central kitchens but also could be due to onsite handling and preparation issues or it could be due to handling during the transportation process by the transport service provider. So, it requires then SFA to work with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure that our food management system addresses all points of this process.

The third part, in terms of operator selection, the Member asked on assurance mechanisms. As part of licensing conditions, the central kitchens do have to implement food safety measures and of course, as the regulator, SFA then conducts inspections to ensure compliance. At the same time, there were some Parliamentary Questions filed on the SAFE framework that was just launched. Phase 1 was implemented on 19 January 2026. For all Government procurement, we then take into consideration the SAFE grades of these suppliers and central kitchen providers to ensure that they have a proper track record of food safety, due to past inspections and the results of that. This is a shift from the annual snapshot assessments that the previous grading system was based on.

And lastly, there was also a question around pre-distribution requirements for central kitchens to adhere to. There are a couple of requirements under SFA's licensing requirements. For example, adopting a uni-directional process, meaning that it helps to segregate ready-to-eat from non-ready-to-eat food products. This ensures that there is no cross contamination. We also require them to identify what we call critical control points along the food preparation process and this helps to monitor potential risks in critical junctures of the food handling process within the central kitchens.

And finally, we also then require appointment of a food hygiene officer to oversee the implementation of these measures.

So, holistically this helps to hopefully ensure that there is some level of standards before these foods are distributed out of the central kitchens.