Food Import & Export

Bringing Food for Personal Use

Before & upon Entering Singapore

Please check the list of personal allowances before travelling to Singapore. If you have doubts, please declare your food items to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers upon arriving in Singapore.

General Rule for Travellers

Travellers returning to Singapore can carry food products for personal consumption without obtaining an import permit if:

the type of food product and where the food product comes from is allowed (see Conditions for Specific Types of Food;
the amount is within the maximum allowance; and
the food products will not be sold commercially.

Travellers should be aware of the risks associated with bringing in and consuming those food items.

We advise travellers who wish to bring food in, to select food products that do not need to be refrigerated, such as biscuits and other heat-processed food, rather than perishables and meat products.

When travellers bring back perishable food that require refrigeration, these foods are often held at room temperature (e.g. in a plane’s overhead stowage) for a prolonged period of time. This can lead to bacterial growth that causes food poisoning. Some of these food products, particularly meat, may also carry disease-causing bacteria and viruses from the source country, which may lead to the spread of those diseases in Singapore.

Please refer to the Good Food Safety Practices page for food safety tips on buying, handling and storing different types of food.

List of Food & Food Products Allowed

The types and amounts of food that can be brought into Singapore from approved sources are indicated in the table below.

Due to prevailing health and safety reasons, the locations where food products are allowed to be brought in for personal consumption are subject to changes.

Meat Items

All forms of meat products, including cooked food containing meat

Each person is allowed a maximum of 5kg of meat products.

Product	Locations where the food product is allowed
Beef	Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Uruguay, USA
Mutton	Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Uruguay, United Kingdom, USA
Pork	Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA
Poultry	Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

Seafood Items

Each person is allowed a maximum of 5kg of seafood products, out of which a maximum of only 2 kg of frozen cooked crabmeat and frozen cooked prawn meat is allowed.

Product	Locations where the food product is allowed
Fish products (except frozen cooked crabmeat, frozen cooked prawn meat and live or frozen oysters)	All countries/regions
Live or frozen oysters	Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA
Frozen cooked crabmeat and frozen cooked prawn meat	All countries/regions

Fruit & Vegetable Items

Each person is allowed a small, reasonable quantity (i.e. hand-carried size) of fruit and vegetable products for personal consumption.

Product	Locations where the food product is allowed
Fresh fruit and vegetables	All countries/regions.

Egg Items

Each person is allowed a maximum of 30 eggs.

Product	Locations where the food product is allowed
Hen Eggs	Australia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia (West), The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Korea, Thailand, Ukraine, USA

Processed Food Items

Each person is allowed a maximum of 5kg or 5 litres of processed food products. The total value of these products cannot exceed S$100 per person.

For cleaned dried bird's nest, a maximum of 1 kg is allowed and there is no restriction in terms of its total value.

Product	Locations where the food product is allowed
Processed Food Products, i.e. all food products excluding: meat seafood fresh fruits vegetables	All countries/regions

Bringing in Larger Quantities of Food Products

If you wish to bring in larger quantities of food products for personal consumption, you are required to:

· apply for a trader's licence or

· register with SFA and apply for an import permit for commercial food imports (including bringing in of food products for consumption or distribution at wedding, charity, exhibition, etc).

You may refer to the section "Applying for Import Permit" in Commercial Food Imports for more information.