Contents in this page
Why is there a framework for novel food?
Demand for novel food has been increasing due to growing consumer interest in healthier, more sustainable, and innovative food options.
Who must comply with the Novel Food Regulatory Framework?
Anyone who wants to manufacture, import, distribute or sell novel food in Singapore must comply with the framework.
What is novel food?
Under the framework, novel food refers to food and food ingredients that do not have a history of human consumption over the past 20 years.
Novel food may also include compounds that are chemically identical to naturally occurring substances but are produced through advances in technology. Examples of novel food include cultivated meats and alternative proteins produced using precision fermentation.
What is the framework?
The framework comprises a set of rules and guidelines to ensure the safety of novel food manufactured, imported, distributed, and sold in Singapore.
1. Definition of novel food
2. Safety assessments
3. Labelling
4. Pre-market approval
5. Continuous updates
How are safety assessments reviewed?
To support the framework, SFA established the ‘SFA Novel Food Safety Expert Working Group’ to provide scientific advice, ensuring that safety assessments are rigorously reviewed.
The expert working group comprises 11 experts specialising in food science, food toxicology, bioinformatics, nutrition, epidemiology, public health, genetics, carcinogenicity, metabolomics, fermentation technology, microbiology, and pharmacology.Members of the Novel Food Safety Expert Working Group
| Chair | ||
| Professor John Lim | Executive Director, Centre of Regulatory Excellence, Duke- NUS Medical School | |
| Members | Designation | Specialisation Field(s) |
| Professor Zhou Weibiao | Head of Department, Food Science and Technology , National University of Singapore | Food science (Food engineering, food processing and functional food) |
| Professor William Chen | Director, Food Science and Technology Programme, Nanyang Technological University | Food science (fermentation) |
| Professor Christiani Jeyakumar Henry | Senior Advisor, Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation, A*STAR | Nutrition |
| Adjunct Professor Sebastian Maurer- Stroh | Executive Director, Bioinformatics Institute, A*STAR | Bioinformatics (allergenicity prediction) |
| Adjunct Associate Professor Annie Ling | Group Director, Policy, Research and Surveillance Division, Health Promotion Board | Epidemiology |
| Adjunct Associate Professor Chow Wai Leng | Director, Disease Policy and Strategy Division, Ministry of Health | Public health |
| Associate Professor Yew Wen Shan | Head, Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore | Precision fermentation and microbiology |
| Assistant Professor Ching Jianhong | Assistant Professor, Director, Metabolomics @Duke-NUS Medical School | Metabolomics |
| Professor Chan Chun Yong, Eric | Professor, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore | Pharmacology and Toxicology (physiological-based pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics modelling) |
| Associate Professor Tan Soo Yong | Head of Advanced Molecular Pathology Laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR | Biobanking, molecular pathology, cancer genomics |
For more information
You can contact us via the SFA Online Feedback Form.
Last Updated 14 Mar 2025
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