Singapore

by Agnes Chin

Introduction

Singapore is not an agricultural country. Nearly 95 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables are imported into Singapore from all over the world such as Malaysia, China, Thailand, USA and Indonesia. Only about 5 percent of the fresh vegetables are locally produced. To date, about 56 local farms produce fresh vegetables for commercial sale and 2 fruit orchards in Singapore.

Monitoring of pesticide violations in imported fresh fruits and vegetables

In view of the heavy reliance on imported fresh fruits and vegetables for local consumption, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore's (AVA) main mission is to ensure that the imported and locally produced fresh fruits and vegetables are safe and wholesome for consumption. Currently, AVA has no restrictions to the import of fresh fruits and vegetables from all countries into Singapore. Under the Control of Plants Act, any person who wishes to import or transship fresh fruits and vegetables into Singapore needs to obtain a licence from AVA. For fresh fruits and vegetables imported into Singapore from the South American tropical countries, a phytosanitary certificate from the country of origin is also needed to certify that the fresh fruits and vegetables are free from South American Leaf Blight or they are sourced from South American Leaf Blight free regions.

To date, there are three inspection programmes in place for fresh fruits and vegetables imports, namely: Routine Monitoring Programme (MSP), Enhanced Surveillance Programme (ESP) and Enhanced Enforcement Programme (EEP) cum Restricted Import Measure (RIM). According to the risk levels of the commodities with reference to the history of violations, the various commodities are inspected under the three different programmes.

In accordance to the Control of Plants Act, the imported consignment needs to comply with the food safety requirements and standards. Singapore adopts the standards of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission and the Tenth Schedule of the Food Regulations. Any imported consignment of fresh fruits and vegetables shall not contain any prohibited pesticide residue, or levels of pesticide residues or harmful chemicals exceeding the permitted levels set by these standards.

Fresh fruits and vegetables under MSP will be randomly sampled for laboratory analysis so as to build up a database to sieve out problematic fruits and vegetables and elevate them to the next higher level, the ESP. Under ESP, the consignment will be detained after inspection, pending laboratory results and if the consignment failed the laboratory analysis, it will be destroyed. If a commodity under ESP still doesn't achieve satisfactory results, it will be elevate to the next level, the EEP cum RIM. Under this program, in addition to the consignment being detained after inspection pending laboratory results and destruction of the failed consignment, enforcement actions will also be taken against the importers concerned. RIM will be invoked if a commodity under EEP still remains problematic whereby only farms approved by AVA from that particular country can export their products to Singapore.

With the implementation of the Enhanced Enforcement Programme (EEP) in July 1999, the pesticide violation rate for imported vegetables under our enforcement programmes was effectively reduced to around 5 percent, which is the target set by AVA. Commodities under this programme were closely monitored for pesticide violations and satisfactory results had been maintained over the years. If a commodity is found to fail the pesticide residue analysis, the importer of this failed consignment would be notified and he will convey the message the farmers. Regular feedback will also be provided to authorities concerned in the producing countries so as to monitor the farms and improve the situation.

Besides all the punitive actions, AVA does have incentive scheme for importers who achieve satisfactory laboratory results for their vegetables consignment under EEP. Importers will qualify for this scheme if they have 10 consecutive consignments of a specific vegetable passing the pesticide residue analysis, after which the subsequent consignment of that specific vegetable will be inspected without detention. Thus, they can sell off their vegetables faster and obtain higher prices. However, once the consignment fails, inspection of the next consignment will revert back to inspection with detention.

Monitoring of pesticide violations in locally produced fresh fruits and vegetables

In accordance with the Control of Plants Act, AVA also imposed stringent control on the usage of pesticides in the local fruits, vegetables and ornamentals farms. All pesticides used in the cultivation of any crops for commercial sale in the farm need to be registered by AVA. Moreover, the application of these pesticides must be done or supervised by a pesticide operator who is certified by AVA. AVA also conducts regulars checks and inspections on the farms to check for any non-compliances with regards to whether the pesticides application was carried out/supervised by certified operator, whether the pesticides are stored in accordance with the regulations in the Control of Plants Act, whether the empty containers & packages of pesticide were properly disposed off in accordance with the regulations in the Control of Plants Act and also, whether pesticides are used properly and correctly in the farms. Samples of vegetables, fruits and ornamental plants produced in the farms will also be taken for laboratory analysis to check for any residues of unregistered pesticides or residues of registered pesticides above the permitted levels. For any non-compliances found during inspection, enforcement actions will be taken against the licensee or the pesticide operators of the farm.

AVA is now in the preparations of a pesticides safety course for our pesticide operators to help to enhance their knowledge on the applications and safety of pesticides used in their farms. The course will be held once a year for all pesticide operators whose license will expire in the following year.

Conclusion

AVA imposed stringent checks on imported and locally produced fresh fruits and vegetables to ensure that they are safe and wholesome for consumption. Through regular feedback with the importers and the authorities from the exporting countries, a better networking system is established so as to facilitate discussion and working out of suitable plans to overcome any problem that might arise and also to better improve the pesticide violation situations of the imported fresh fruits and vegetables into Singapore.

QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY

Singapore

Selected Country Statistics:

GDP = Gross Domestic Product; GNI = Gross National Income; Hunger = Population below minimum energy requirement; FAOSTAT = latest data entry between 1998 and 2002

Institutional Profile

Industry Associations:
Non-Governmental Associations:

Questionnaire responses: Yes = Yes; - = No;? = don't know; (blank) = no answer