Essay first draft

Globalisation is a phenomenon resulting in the world becoming integrated and interdependent. The world has become a global market as manufacturing, assembling and purchasing of products occur all over the world. Many companies are outsourcing to take advantage of cheaper labor in other countries.

Today, products are sold globally. In Singapore, a supermarket sells a variety of food and household products imported from countries such as China, America, Malaysia and many more. With such a diverse range to choose from, one is spoilt for choice. However, in the recent years, the number of food scandals have risen. In 2007, Chinese frozen meat and vegetable dumplings containing pesticide caused food poisoning in Japan (Chanda, 2013). With the rise in food scandals occurring around Singapore, the Singapore government has to tighten regulations and ensure testing methods are secure to protect consumers from being affected by contaminated food from global sources.        

Horsemeat was detected in frozen beef burgers in mid January. France beef meals tainted with horsemeat were treated as beef when it was sold from Romania to other countries and eventually back to France. Beef ready meals in other parts of Europe have been recalled after investigation showed horsemeat in them. The UK Food Standards Agency was criticized and doubted after this incident (BBC, 2013). Consumer confidence in labels has to be restored as a result.

In 2008, melamine contaminated milk products took the lives of at least 6 children and caused 300,000 children to fall ill (Branigan, 2009). Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong made a move to ban and recall Chinese dairy products in 2008 (Klamann, 2008). Tainted food can bring about serious health consequences as seen in this example. Food safety should not be taken for granted. Singapore is highly reliant on imported food thus there is a high risk of being susceptible to food scandals (Tan, 2013). Singapore has to be alert in ensuring that imports are safe for consumption.

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has strict requirements for imported and locally manufactured food to comply with. Imports with high risks are required to be sent for testing to certify the safety of the imported food (Singapore customs, 2013). The government also encourages with the food industry to guarantee the safety of food provided through awarding food safety excellence and food safety partners’ awards for their commitment.

Harmful products will continuously arise as producers find ways to cut costs by using cheap chemicals as substitutes or when animal epidemics occur. The government has to ensure that methods used to test for poisonous substances in imported food are constantly reliable and upgraded. Animals imported should also continue to be strictly controlled and certified to prevent diseases from being introduced into the country. The AVA should also work closely with food safety authorities internationally to share information and work on protecting the health of consumers. This way, when a certain food is found to be affecting the health of consumers, the food safety authority of that country can pass information regarding the food scandal on to food safety authorities in other countries immediately to prevent the problem from escalating. In preventing contaminated food from being consumed, issues such as consumers distrust arising from unethical selling of tainted food would not exist.

(citations soon...)