For food security, we literally don’t put all our eggs in one basket

14/12/2022

Here’s some eggs-citing news.

On Monday (Dec 13), Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu announced that egg exports from Brunei are now Singapore Food Agency-accredited.

It’s the Government being resourceful once again in an era of shaky supply chains. This latest accreditation comes alongside a first-of-its-kind partnership with Bruneian farm Golden Chick Livestock Farm Sdn Bhd to supply hen shell eggs to Singapore.

So 17 total countries and regions can export eggs to Singapore now, up from 12 in 2019.

The Government has very strict accreditation processes for accrediting these egg imports, by the by. A county, for example, must be an area free from bird flu, and a farm’s animal health and food safety management programmes will be inspected.

All in all, this more resilient egg supply means better breakfasts and bakes coming your way.

Source: Los Muertos Crew, Pexels

More food security with a fourth local egg farm

These increasingly diverse imports are just one way the Government is strengthening Singapore’s supply of this essential food item.

There’s a fourth local egg farm coming up, which with the existing three will satisfy half of Singapore’s demand for eggs.

Source: Grace Fu Facebook

“Currently, egg imports account for approximately 70 per cent of our egg supply,” noted the Singapore Food Authority (SFA) in the same press release.

“Efforts to diversify the nation’s egg supply over the past three years have helped us to withstand supply disruptions arising from unexpected events due to disease issues and geopolitical tensions and ensured a stable supply of eggs in Singapore.”

“The upcoming development of the fourth egg farm in Singapore with a state-of-the-art, productive and sustainable egg facility will further strengthen the resilience of our local egg supply,” added the SFA.

“The upcoming egg farm will be an eggs-traordinary one too, with ISE Food Holdings designing its facilities with sustainability and circularity in mind, as well as using technology to produce more with less,” posted Minister Fu on Oct 25 about this fourth farm.

“I hope this will inspire more farms to invest in innovative solutions so that we can collectively contribute to Singapore’s #30by30 goal in a productive, climate-resilient and sustainable way.”

A diverse food supply for Singapore’s food resilience

And, like how there’re many ways to cook eggs (we like ours over well), these expanded international partnerships are just one way the Government’s strengthening Singapore’s food security.

The overall diversification of our food supply is what’s the Government’s been planting — Singapore’s imported food supplies currently come from 180 places around the world, up from 172 in 2019.

The 30-by-30 goal, which is the Government’s plan to build the agri-food industry’s capability and capacity to sustainably produce 30 per cent of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030, factors in here too.

“As a globally-connected economy that imports more than 90 per cent of our food, it is inevitable that we encounter food disruptions from time to time,” wrote the SFA.

“Nonetheless, the Government has been undertaking long-term planning and proactively taking action to safeguard Singapore’s food supply through a multipronged approach that includes import source diversification, growing overseas, and local production.”

“This ensures that disruptions from any single source does not affect Singapore too severely, as importers can turn to alternative sources to maintain stability of our food supply,” added the SFA.

Indeed. As Minister Fu’s previously noted (Oct 16), we are especially vulnerable to these disruptions as we import much of our food.

“This demonstrates just how important food security is. We have been able to navigate through recent challenges thanks to our efforts in diversifying our food supply, and ensuring business continuity plans are in place,” Minister Fu further wrote.

“This is also why we are ramping up our local food production capabilities and capacity, so as to protect ourselves against possible future disruptions.”

Eggs-citing.

Cover photo credit: SFA