Advancing Food Innovation with Safety at the Forefront

SIAW 2025 kicked off with the Roundtable on Novel Food Regulations hosted by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) on 3 November 2025. The event brought together regulators, scientists, and industry leaders to advance novel food safety and commercialisation. Through keynote presentations and expert panels, participants shared best practices and experiences on two key areas – regulatory frameworks for novel foods, and the broader ecosystem that facilitates both the safety assessment and commercialisation of novel foods.

Singapore Food Story 2 with Renewed Focus on Overall Resilience

A key highlight of the week was the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit 2025. Themed “Building Agility and Resilience in Asia’s Food System”, the Summit featured around 200 speakers and 60 exhibitors.

In her opening address, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Ms Grace Fu unveiled the Singapore Food Story 2 (SFS2). SFS2 aims to bring about overall food resilience for Singapore through four pillars – diversifying imports, growing local, stockpiling, and the new global partnerships pillar. Drawing from our experience over the past five years, we will also be more targeted in our local production strategy and revise our local production targets – by 2035, we aim to have local farms supply 20% of our local consumption of fibre (refers to fresh leafy and fruited vegetables, beansprouts and mushrooms); and 30% of our local consumption of protein (refers to eggs and seafood).

Minister Fu emphasised that strengthening food resilience is a whole-of-society effort. Beyond the Government's efforts to strengthen our food pillars, industry players are encouraged to actively explore new sources and tap local produce to diversify supplies, while consumers can support local farmers by purchasing local produce and patronising food businesses that use locally produced ingredients. 

Strengthening Singapore's Agri-Food Innovation Ecosystem

Minister of State (MOS) for National Development & Trade and Industry Mr Alvin Tan delivered a welcome address at the SIAW 2025 Welcome Reception on 4 November 2025. He emphasised that strengthening food resilience requires continuous innovation, and highlighted the importance of investing in R&D to unlock new solutions and future-proof Singapore’s food systems.

Demonstrating the government's commitment, MOS Tan announced the award of $42 million to 11 promising initiatives under Phase Two of the Singapore Food Story (SFS) R&D Programme. These projects target two critical domains: enhancing the nutrition and functionality of alternative protein products, and advancing novel, non-animal approaches for toxicological evaluation of food innovations. 

Science and Technology as an Enabler

The Global Agri-Food Scientific Symposium, organised by SFA and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) on 5 to 6 November 2025, brought together researchers, scientists and technology providers to catalyse scientific discussions on cutting-edge discoveries and foster collaboration to build agri-food capabilities for climate-resilient and sustainable food ecosystems.

Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Defence & Sustainability and the Environment Mr Zaqy Mohamad delivered an opening address at the symposium. He announced two major initiatives under the SFS R&D Programme that will advance Singapore's local food production capabilities.

• The Seed Innovation Hub programme will receive $22 million to boost farm productivity by developing higher quality seeds tailored for tropical climates and controlled environment agriculture settings, with superior traits such as enhanced growth, yield and nutritional value.
• On the aquaculture front, AquaPolis will receive $18.5 million in funding to lower production costs and improve the quality of locally produced Asian seabass. Research outcomes will be directly implemented in local farms through SFA's National Broodstock Centre and Hatchery Development and Recognition Programme.

The SIAW brings together innovative ideas and practical solutions, connecting global experts to address real-world challenges. Thank you to all attendees, partners and stakeholders for your steadfast support and active participation in SIAW 2025.

We look forward to welcoming you back and continuing these vital collaborations at SIAW 2026!