Genetically Modified Food Safety Assessment

Developers who want to supply genetically modified (GM) crops as food or food ingredients in Singapore must first submit a proposal to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). The Genetic Modification Advisory Committee of Singapore (GMAC) evaluates the release of agriculture-related GMOs, after which SFA conducts the food-safety evaluation and considers GMAC's recommendations (SFA, Conditions Related to Use of Genetically Modified Crops in Food, last updated 25 June 2026, accessed 30 August 2026).

Application and assessment

The proposal is submitted to SFA at Authorisation@sfa.gov.sg. Under the Food Safety and Security (FSSA Authorisations—Administration) Regulations 2025, the application fee depends on the relationship between the requested genetic modifications and existing approvals: $880 for an unapproved modification, $440 where modifications derive from two or more GMOs each covered by a current approval, and $110 where the modifications are a subset of modifications covered by a current approval (SFA, Conditions Related to Use of Genetically Modified Crops in Food, last updated 25 June 2026, accessed 30 August 2026). The fee becomes payable after SFA accepts the application; it is not a guarantee of approval.

After GMAC endorses the application, SFA conducts further food-safety evaluation using the information required by the Second Schedule to the 2025 FSSA Authorisations—Administration Regulations. A developer should therefore treat GMAC review and SFA's regulatory decision as sequential parts of the pathway, not as one private certification or a label claim (SFA, Conditions Related to Use of Genetically Modified Crops in Food, last updated 25 June 2026, accessed 30 August 2026).

When approval is required

A GM food must be covered by SFA pre-market approval before it can lawfully be supplied in Singapore, handled for supply here, or reared or cultivated here. Developers and importers should also comply with the separate requirements for the relevant food business, import route, safety controls and labelling; pre-market approval is product-specific and is not a company-wide licence (SFA, Conditions Related to Use of Genetically Modified Crops in Food, last updated 25 June 2026, accessed 30 August 2026).

The Food Safety and Security Act describes food without the required pre-market approval as “defined food” when it is, or contains, a genetically modified food. Tranche 1 provisions on defined food and pre-market approval came into force on 28 November 2025 (SFA, Food Safety and Security Act, accessed 30 August 2026). This statutory boundary should not be confused with the separate pathway for genome-edited crops that SFA verifies as equivalent to conventionally bred crops.

Approval is not perpetual

SFA states that a GM-food pre-market approval is not perpetual. It may be cancelled where it was obtained by fraud or misrepresentation, an approval condition is contravened, there is a material change to the manufacturing, preparation, preservation, packaging or storage method or to other application information, or Singapore's public interest requires cancellation (SFA, Conditions Related to Use of Genetically Modified Crops in Food, last updated 25 June 2026, accessed 30 August 2026). A business changing a product or process should therefore re-check the approval conditions rather than assume the original decision follows every later version.