Nutritional Value Standards and Quality Checks for Budget Meals Initiative

39 Dr Choo Pei Ling asked the Minister for National Development about the Budget Meals initiative (a) whether the Ministry performs routine checks on the nutritional value of the meals; and (b) whether minimum nutritional standards can be set to ensure that such meals contain adequate protein, vegetables and essential nutrients, in addition to carbohydrates.

Mr Chee Hong Tat: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) conducts regular surveys to track the prices of common dishes and drinks offered in HDB coffee shops. HDB does not directly regulate food prices. Instead, HDB strives to provide adequate supply of coffee shops in every HDB town, complementing the network of hawker centres, to offer a range of cooked food options for residents.

HDB requires budget meals to be a full meal option. We recently made some changes to the budget meal initiative, to provide enhanced funding support for participating operators who choose to offer budget meals in their eating houses. Part of the changes include requiring the operator to provide three meal options: (a) an economy rice option consisting of rice with one meat dish and two vegetable dishes; (b) a halal meal option; and (c) a breakfast item.

Beyond these guidelines, it is not feasible to impose nutritional requirements on budget meals, just as we do not impose such requirements on hawker stalls in general.