SUPPLY OF FOOD ITEMS (Dissemination of essential information)

Mr Tay Beng Chuan asked the Minister for National Development (a) if his Ministry has plans to improve the dissemination of essential information round the clock to the public in an emergency situation like the sudden ban on imports of all meat and egg products from Europe; and (b) if there are any economic defence strategies in place to ensure adequate supply of food items to the public in the event of a prolonged ban on imported food from major food supply sources.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Mah Bow Tan): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government is committed to act rapidly to prevent contaminated food from reaching our consumers. We cannot afford to take chances when it comes to the health and safety of our people. Arising from the recent dioxin scare, the Primary Production Department (PPD) will work with the Ministry of the Environment to review our system of disseminating essential information to the public. The experience of the recent incident will be taken into account.

To ensure a stable and adequate supply of safe primary foods such as meat and vegetables, PPD has an on-going programme to diversify our external sources of supply of primary food. Imports are encouraged from as many countries as possible, as long as they are able to meet our stringent food safety requirements. This diversification of supply sources provides resilience to our primary food supply. Any shortfall from any one source can be quickly replaced by supply from other approved sources.