Singapore's food security: Can we stay fed? | Through The Years

Name: Singapore's food security: Can we stay fed? | Through The Years
Uploaded: 2026-05-29T06:37:00+00:00
Duration: 15 min 10 s
Channel: AsiaOne
Description: Our methods of sourcing food are changing. But in a place like Singapore where food is identity and pride, the culture around it remains deeply rooted. Food security has become not just a logistical concern, but a national priority. How do we ensure that affordable access to food goes hand in hand with preserving the culinary heritage we are proud of? Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

00:01This boat is taking me to a fish farm off the coast of Changi.

00:05My first stop to discover what keeps our favourite dishes within reach.

00:22Come Risa, let me show you all the types of fish that I farm in Singapore.

00:29Look at this.

00:30Wow.

00:31There are so many types here.

00:32And there are some really big ones here.

00:33And how do we tell that the fish is fresh?

00:35There are three things that you have to look out for.

00:38Number one, you look at its eyes.

00:40You can see that the eyes are very beautiful.

00:43It's very shiny, very bright.

00:45Yeah, I can see that in all the other fish's eyes as well.

00:48It's very clear.

00:49Because it's just harvested.

00:50And number two, you look at the gills.

00:52You look at the deep red.

00:53Oh wow, yeah.

00:54It's really, really red.

00:55Yeah.

00:56And then lastly, there's a soapy feeling on the fish.

00:59Oh.

01:00Yeah.

01:01Yeah.

01:02It's almost slimy.

01:03It is a slimy feeling.

01:04This soapy feeling is because it's the protection to the fish.

01:07Right, from anything in the sea?

01:08That's right.

01:09Okay.

01:10What fish are we feeding today?

01:14Oh, these are our big barramundi.

01:16Okay.

01:17Did I just go for it?

01:18Please.

01:19Yeah.

01:22So is farming, has it always been the same?

01:24Actually farming is fairly recent.

01:27A lot of times people catch the fish.

01:29They do fishing rather than farming.

01:31But if you keep fishing, then you very soon have no more fish left in the sea.

01:36How has farming changed over the years?

01:38Nowadays, like this one, this is formulated feed.

01:41So now they know what is the nutrients that the fish needs.

01:44The tastes have changed.

01:45Like this fish is a big barramundi.

01:48Yeah.

01:49Because the young people, now they don't want the head, they don't want the fin.

01:53The best part for me is the cheek.

01:55But now nobody wants to eat the cheek.

01:57So we have to grow the fish bigger.

01:59What is one struggle that farmers in Singapore face?

02:02Cost in Singapore is very high.

02:04Everything from the COE, the delivery, manpower, we have to pay, levy and so on and so forth.

02:12So of course we have to compete with other imports.

02:16Thankfully, many Singaporeans now are starting to appreciate more local

02:21because they know that it's fresher because we don't have to travel so far away.

02:25Singapore government is very strict.

02:26So we make sure that we take care of the fish.

02:30This is what we call heartland fish.

02:33We grow the fish for the heartlanders.

02:35So in a way, it's kind of like adapted to what Singaporeans like.

02:38That's right.

02:39So do you feel like working on a farm has given you more appreciation for the way we get our food?

02:43Yes, of course.

02:44There's a lot of care, a lot of management, a lot of work that goes in to take care of the fish.

02:51But it's also very fulfilling.

02:54We are ready to harvest the fish.

02:56Every day, we get the orders in from Fair Price at 2 o'clock.

03:00Risa, I'll show you how we do it.

03:03And then after that, it's your turn.

03:05Okay, I'm ready.

03:06Lift up the fish like this.

03:10Sorry.

03:14My turn.

03:15Your turn.

03:16Let's go.

03:17Let's go.

03:18Let's go.

03:19Yeah, that's right.

03:27What we do is that we tag our fish so that people know that this fish comes from our farm.

03:32And I see there's an SG tag as well.

03:34That's important.

03:35The red SG logo is to show that this fish is local.

03:40So if I'm interested in buying locally produced food, I can just look out for these.

03:44That's right.

03:45At any supermarket.

03:53That boat is about to send a fresh delivery of snappers to Fair Price.

04:01We've toured the farm and now I'm curious.

04:03How do locally farmed fish fare?

04:07Wow, this looks so good.

04:09So Chef, could you tell us more about what we have here?

04:12All these four dishes are all made by local produce.

04:15Over here, we have a red snapper and it's from this farm.

04:18Wow, okay.

04:19Yeah.

04:20The eggs, they are from a local egg farm and a local jiao bai cai.

04:23Let's dig in.

04:25This is so fresh.

04:27And how did you get into food and how did you become a chef?

04:29The greatest cook to me is my grandma.

04:32And since I was a young boy, I always stood next to her when she was cooking.

04:35And I always tried to learn as much as I could from her.

04:38The reason why I became a chef is a very basic simple answer because I like to bring laughter and happiness to people through food.

04:47And I think that usually when we are in a restaurant, it's always very hectic in the kitchen.

04:51The moment I step outside, we see and we hear friends, families, laughter, catching up together.

04:56The kind of feeling that gives us this kind of warmth and motivation to continue.

05:01Do you think it's a huge part of our culture, eating home-cooked food and food in general?

05:04Definitely.

05:05I think that even Singapore has evolved so much over the years.

05:09One thing that's still common would be the communal dining.

05:12Communal dining is something that is very ingrained in our culture.

05:15It's where we get to spend time with our families.

05:17No matter how busy we are at work, how much trouble we have outside home.

05:22When we come home to have family together, everything just goes away for that period of time.

05:26Just enjoy the time catching up, being together with the family and my loved ones.

05:30And this is the reason why I started my own restaurants.

05:33To use food to bring people together to catch up after a very hard day at work.

05:37My day on the farm is coming to an end.

05:39I'm grateful for the chance to see firsthand how local food is farmed.

05:43Local farms make up a small portion of Singapore's food supply.

05:47In fact, Singapore imports 90% of our food.

05:50This leaves us vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.

05:53So, how do we address this?

06:01Welcome to Sunview Distribution Centre.

06:03In short, we call it SVDC.

06:05How cold is it in here?

06:06Oh, it's 10 degrees Celsius over here.

06:08So all the staff are equipped with cold room jacket.

06:11Here we do all the cold chain related stock regarding fruits and vegetables.

06:15All from incoming to QC, receiving and then we go inside the chamber into storage

06:21and then ultimately peeking to the stores.

06:23So how much food comes in here daily?

06:25Okay, so our throughput is more than 50,000 cartons per day.

06:30Wow, okay.

06:31We serve more than 160 fair price stores over here.

06:34See, also you must be very busy every day.

06:36It's just like normal.

06:37Yeah, it's a 365 24-7 carve operations.

06:42So the QC is done over here?

06:44Yeah, the QC is done over here.

06:46So what happens if during the QC process you find out that, you know, there's some defective produce?

06:51So our QC process is actually guided by a warehouse product sheet or in short WPS

06:56or developed by our Food Safety Quality Department.

06:59What constitutes like a major defect?

07:03For example, 200 cartons, we are supposed to check a tank carton.

07:06So this tank carton must be fully checked.

07:09If the tank carton all passed, then it will be a pass shipment.

07:15So this area is between 2 to 8 degrees?

07:18Yes.

07:19Okay, and what is kept in here?

07:20Here is all vegetable that is being kept here.

07:22Wow, okay.

07:23And how long are they held here?

07:25From a storage period of 2 days to 21 days.

07:28Oh wow, okay.

07:29So that's why it's so important that the temperature is at a certain level.

07:32It's optimal.

07:33Correct.

07:34To maintain its freshness as well.

07:35Right.

07:42Wow, okay.

07:43It's a lot colder in here.

07:44Yeah, this is where our fruits and dairy products are stored.

07:47Oh, okay.

07:48And there are really so many varieties.

07:51So where do they all come from?

07:53Take apple for example.

07:54They come from the US.

07:55We have apples from China, South Africa and New Zealand.

08:00And why, in your opinion, is it important to get our food from so many different sources?

08:05So that we continuously have supplies per product to continuously supply to the store, ultimately to our consumers.

08:12And has fair price always been operating in this way?

08:15Yes, of course.

08:16But we have progressed throughout the years through the use of technology,

08:19or such as from paper recording to tablet to better manage our data,

08:25and also to better our productivity to serve more stores.

08:31So this is how our food gets to us, and why we have so many different options to choose from.

08:36We've seen how local and imported food made their way onto our plates.

08:43Now I'm here to learn about something else that's been sprouting up all over the island.

08:48Welcome to the Garden Risa.

08:57This is the Capital Spring One Arden Chef's Garden.

09:00And we're actually 51 floors up in the sky.

09:03And I will be walking you through the garden, and you get to taste plenty of delicious varieties that Chef actually uses very very deliciously in the restaurant.

09:12So this we call like the lemon sherbet.

09:14For us farmers, we love to plant things that are furry into our gardens,

09:18because that kind of invites people to interact with the garden in a way that is a little bit unexpected.

09:24So this is a beautiful flower, but actually it has a very strong garlic flavor.

09:30In it you can take us.

09:33Oh yeah, it's very strong.

09:36I normally like to use this for salad.

09:38One thing is because of the fruitiness, acidity, you can try.

09:43Another thing is because of the colour.

09:45Very sweet.

09:46Yeah, sweet.

09:47Go well with any kind of dressing.

09:49How we like to introduce the passion fruit marigold is to shake it rather violently.

09:56And then you can smell.

09:58Oh, it smells so good.

10:02We do see a lot of plants and herbs that we don't really find in the supermarket.

10:07Is that a big reason why we have this edible food forest here?

10:10Even for those very common produce that we grow here, very ingredients.

10:15For example, the reddish.

10:17Reddish I can actually easily get from the supermarket, right?

10:20But the reddish, somehow the reddish we grow over here is very different from the one that we actually bought from the supermarket.

10:26Our reddish here, surprisingly, is actually quite spicy.

10:31So Sarah, what's the secret?

10:32How do you get the spicy reddish?

10:33Well, actually there's no real secret.

10:35It's just that when you reduce the carbon miles,

10:38because now the garden literally steps away from the kitchen, right?

10:41You get produce the way nature intends.

10:43Actually, a lot of Singaporeans, our concept of edibility revolves around the supermarket.

10:50And actually, the variety of edibility that can be grown within Singapore is just so much more.

10:56And so that's why we think it's really important to grow a wide variety in our urban farms that are accessible to the public.

11:02Just to show that, you know, we have so much possibility of edibility here in Singapore.

11:07It's not just the stuff you see in the supermarket, there's way more things that we can eat beyond that.

11:12And one good thing about this farm to table concept is because my kitchen team, they actually start to understand, you know, everything comes to the table is not that easy.

11:26Because every operation, they have to come here to actually pick up whatever they need to use.

11:31They know how to treasure. They don't waste anything.

11:35And I think that's kind of like the beautiful relationship between Chef and our team.

11:40Because it's so rare honestly to find a culinary team that is willing to build that flexibility into their menu.

11:47Do you think urban farming is the way forward in terms of being more self-sufficient?

11:56I mean, you're asking the farmer. So definitely, yes, urban farming is the way to go.

12:00And especially in Singapore, we're known for turning those limitations into opportunities, right?

12:05And urban farming is a perfect example of that.

12:08Food is a huge part of our culture and identity in Singapore.

12:12So how we address food security will shape what ends up on our plates, as well as the future of our food landscape.

12:20Yeah, so Dennis, what do we have here today?

12:22Okay, so Risa, today we have the Yu Mian curry puff.

12:25We have braised duck rice as well as fried hok kami.

12:28This fried hok kami, this gooey wok he is really good.

12:32I also like the braised duck rice. I started eating their duck rice, believe it or not, like 30 years ago.

12:37Wow.

12:38In its original location.

12:39Yeah, does it like remind you of your childhood in a way? Like when you eat it, is it very comforting?

12:43It is like a comfort food for me. That familiar taste and texture.

12:48So, I mean, in terms of like variety in the Hawker Centre, how many stalls are there right now? Like in this, where we are at?

12:54So right now we are in Bongo Coast Hawker Centre. In this Hawker Centre, we have 40 stalls.

12:59We have just started a new food court at Maple Tree Business City.

13:02And we have enabled AI in the food court.

13:05So right at the entrance, you will see a heat mapping telling you where are the available seats.

13:09Oh, that's cool.

13:10So it's through digitalisation initiatives like that, that we keep ourselves relevant to the younger generation.

13:18Are there any stalls in particular that stand out to you?

13:22The one that stands out to me is actually this Curry Puff.

13:25Okay.

13:26It's actually from a store What the Puff.

13:27Yeah.

13:28So what's unique about them is it's actually operated by Gen Z Hawkers.

13:31Wow.

13:32Yeah, the owner is 23 years old.

13:33And aside from the traditional curry, chicken curry and sardine flavour, they do have younger, more funky flavours like cheesy curry as well as black pepper.

13:46Do you think that that kind of thing, like maybe like more experimental flavours or like newer flavours that we never really seen before,

13:53is that reflective of people's changing dietary preferences or like certain trends?

13:58Consumers are very adventurous.

14:00So they are always looking for something new and they are willing to try.

14:04So, you know, in order to like ensure that there's a lot of variety, it must take a lot of planning.

14:08So our team actually spend a lot of time interacting with these hawkers and they are always exploring where's the best location, where's the best fit.

14:17Yeah, because we do try to provide aside from a wide variety, we also try to cater to that local residential area.

14:25Right.

14:26What is preferred by the customers over there as well.

14:31I see, okay.

14:32So it's actually kind of tailored also for the people who live there.

14:35They are considered in the banning of the hawkers centres.

14:38It is.

14:39No matter where our food comes from, whether local or imported, it takes a lot to get them to our plates.

14:49Something to think about the next time you dig into your favourite hawkers dish.

15:09There that go over there.

15:10You can catchары it.

15:11You can tell Dan.