SINGAPORE – The food safety grading system in Singapore will be replaced from Jan 19 with a new framework that focuses more on an establishment’s track record of ensuring food safety, rather than yearly snapshot assessments.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) announced on Jan 7 the new scheme, dubbed the Safety Assurance for Food Establishments (SAFE) framework.
The new framework will apply to an estimated 45,000 SFA-licensed food establishments, including food caterers, restaurants, bakeries, hawker stalls and food carts, SFA said.
Under the existing grading system
, food establishments are graded A, B, C, or D, based on an annual assessment by SFA. The current system has been in place for close to three decades.
Outlets are graded based on overall hygiene, cleanliness and housekeeping standards of the premises in a “snapshot assessment”.
According to previous media reports, a food establishment that scores 85 per cent and above is graded A. Scoring between 70 per cent and 84 per cent earns a B, 50 per cent and 69 per cent earns a C, and 40 per cent and 49 per cent earns a D.
This scheme provides an indication of an establishment’s food safety standards at the point of assessment, but does not reflect whether these standards are consistently maintained over time.
Under the new framework, however, food establishments with consistent good food safety track records will attain higher grades, SFA said.
Those with poor food safety track records will receive lower grades and be subjected to more frequent inspections, the agency added.
For example, a food establishment will receive a grade A if it has a good track record of more than three years. If there is a major lapse in ensuring food safety at an establishment, such as receiving a court conviction for food safety-related offences, it will be immediately downgraded to a grade C.
Food establishments that have been operating for less than a year will begin with a “New” grade to differentiate them from operators with established track records.
