BLAME it on a growing demand for new, exotic foods and free trade agreements opening up a way for them to come in. More importers here are getting caught for bringing in unsafe food products.
These processed foods range from tea leaves with colouring to flour that has been excessively bleached, to cordials with too much preservatives. The more extreme examples include melamine-tainted milk and salmonella-laced peanut butter.
The number of cases of food-safety breaches shot up by a quarter, from 176 in 2007 to 219 last year.
Importers are allowed to bring in only licensed products which comply with the Singapore Food Regulations Act. When the stocks arrive, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) tests random samples for contaminants.
There are several ways unsafe food items slip through the cracks:
Importers are let down by unreliable overseas suppliers;
Importers are unclear about the regulations imposed on certain foods; and
They are slipshod with their own checks.
Importer Auric Pacific Marketing, which brings in wine and condiments, gets about one product rejected by AVA each year.
[SOURCE: http://www.straitstimes.com]
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