YIR 2021
Category
News Releases
6 October 2021
Discover how new standards and accreditation programmes are raising the bar for local urban farms, ensuring pesticide-free, sustainably grown vegetables for consumers.
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Singapore Standards Council and Singapore Accreditation Council set quality and sustainable benchmarks for urban farms
Local urban vegetable farms gear up to produce pesticide-free sustainably grown vegetables
Urban vegetable farms will soon be able to have their farming processes and management systems certified to meet the “Singapore Standard (SS) 661: Specification for Clean and Green Urban Farms”. The standard, developed by the Singapore Standards Council (SSC) and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), sets guidelines to minimise contaminants in food production and sustainable practices on resource and waste management in urban farms. SS 661 provides measurable clean and green benchmarks on how vegetables are farmed, harvested, packaged, stored and transported to address consumers’ needs for pesticide-free sustainably grown vegetables.
To assess that farms in Singapore are compliant with SS 661, the Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) is developing a new accreditation programme, together with the SFA, to ensure independent Certification Bodies3 competently assess and recognise farms that meet SS 661 requirements.
Ms Choy Sauw Kook, Director-General (Quality & Excellence), Enterprise Singapore, said, “Standards and accreditation complement one another. The former sets quality guidelines whereas the latter verifies that quality indicators are being upheld. As consumers demand greater transparency on how food is sourced, farmed and processed, our local enterprises can distinguish themselves ahead of the competition, locally and overseas, when they are officially recognised and certified as champions of food sustainability and quality. The quality framework set up by the SSC and SAC for our local farms will elevate the industry and I thank our partners for their continued support.”
Mr Tan Kai Hoe, Chairman of the Singapore Accreditation Council, said, “Quality and Standards are even more important to industries in the post COVID environment, as businesses prioritise transparency and accountability across supply chains to achieve sustainable and resilient outcomes. Through accreditation, the SAC is committed to developing Singapore’s quality infrastructure, as well as enterprise and workforce capabilities, to support our companies’ shift to cleaner and greener business models.”
Extract from: The Straits Times
Extract from Channel News Asia
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