April 15, 2008

Singapore approves pork imports from Chile and the Philippines
 

Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has given the green light to pork imports from Chile and the Philippines, according to a Channel NewsAsia report.

Singapore currently imports frozen and chilled pork from nine countries, with most of it imported from Indonesia and Australia. Chile and the Philippines will soon be added on to the list, but that will take some time because only two Chilean slaughterhouses have been approved to export frozen pork to Singapore whereas the application from Philippine slaughterhouses is still under processing.

AVA said that supply would be dependent on market forces, and local co-operative NTUC FairPrice has welcomed the move to diversify Singapore's food sources.

Frozen pork sales in NTUC outlets have increased by three times in the past three months, and the co-operative has attributed this to the frozen meat awareness campaign launched by AVA.