SINGAPORE, April 17 — As part of ongoing reviews of European Union (EU) member state export applications, Singapore has approved Greece, Lithuania and Latvia as new import sources for meat, eggs and their products.
The move has brought the total number of authorized EU countries to 18, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), EU in Singapore, and Singapore’s National Parks Board.
The approvals came alongside a broader agreement between Singapore and the EU to recognize EU-wide regionalization measures for animal diseases, including African Swine Fever, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Foot-and-Mouth Disease.
In the event of an outbreak of the aforesaid diseases in the EU, Singapore will recognize and apply EU regionalization measures, avoiding country-wide restrictions and unnecessary trade disruptions, while the EU will continue to ensure the highest food safety standards for exports of meat and egg products to Singapore.
Both sides also agreed to allow raw materials used in the manufacturing of meat and egg products to be sourced from any EU member state approved by Singapore, amending the current requirements that animals and their derived products must be born and raised in the same single EU member state.
“This will strengthen Singapore’s efforts to diversify our import sources against food supply disruptions and ensure a reliable supply of safe food for Singapore, which is critical as Singapore imports 90 percent of our food supply,” said the SFA’s director-general of food security Abdul Jalil Abdul Kader. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
