Guidelines on Novel Food

Download the Requirements for the Safety Assessment of Novel Food and Novel Food Ingredients and review the document carefully. It contains all the information you need to comply with the requirements.

Before you produce or sell novel food, consult SFA as early as possible to understand the information you need to submit to SFA to demonstrate that your novel food product is safe.

Early consultation can help companies identify potential risks and ensure that these risks are appropriately managed.

To get in touch with SFA, fill in and submit the SFA Online Feedback Form. You can also register to attend SFA’s Novel Food Virtual Clinics for more information.

It is a requirement for all novel food manufacturers or importers to conduct safety assessments. The assessments should cover potential food safety risks such as toxicity, allergenicity, the safety of the production methods used, and dietary exposure arising from consumption. 

Detailed information on safety assessments can be found in the Requirements for the Safety Assessment of Novel Food and Novel Food Ingredients.

If the novel food is derived from precision/biomass fermentation, or is a form of cultivated meat/seafood, you must complete the self-assessment checklists below:

1. Self-assessment checklist for precision/biomass fermentation processes
2. Self-assessment checklist for cell-based food companies

Once you have completed the checklist, you will receive an acknowledgement. You must attach the acknowledgement to your pre-approval application when you submit it to SFA.

Submit the following to SFANovelFood@sfa.gov.sg:

• food safety information required as listed in the Requirements for the Safety Assessment of Novel Food and Novel Food Ingredients 
• self-assessment checklists together with the acknowledgements

There are no fees imposed when you are submitting your application.

SFA will review the safety assessments to determine if potential food safety issues have been addressed.

You will receive an email notification from SFA if you have been granted pre-market approval for your novel food product.

You must seek SFA’s approval again if and when:

1. You have made changes to the manufacturing process of the novel food product, and these changes might affect the validity of the original safety assessment submitted. For example, when you change the input materials (e.g. cell lines or culture media components) in the production of cultivated meat, you must seek approval again.
   
   Until approval is granted, novel food products made using the updated manufacturing process cannot be imported, distributed, or sold in Singapore.
   
2. You want to expand the scope of the intended use of your novel food product to other food categories.