GPC to table motion to reduce food waste, strengthen food resilience through government and ground-up efforts

GPC to table motion to reduce food waste, strengthen food resilience through government and ground-up efforts Rising daily food expenses may be top of mind, but upstream improvements need to be discussed so Singapore has a robust infrastructure to serve its food needs in the long run, said GPC chair Ms Poh Li San. SINGAPORE: The Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) on sustainability and the environment will table a motion calling on the government to enhance food resilience and support efforts to reduce food waste through "partnerships with all of society". This is to ensure that people in Singapore have access to affordable food amid geopolitical uncertainties and climate-related risks, according to the private member's motion. It will be tabled by four People's Action Party (PAP) parliamentarians who are members of the GPC: chair Ms Poh Li San, deputy chair Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin, and members Ms Valerie Lee and Mr Ng Shi Xuan. It will be debated at the next sitting of parliament, which starts on Sep 8. The motion comes as food prices have gone up due to external conditions, including the disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and El Nino climate events affecting crop yields, Ms Poh said at a briefing on Wednesday (Sep 2). In Singapore, a refreshed national food resilience strategy, Singapore Food Story 2, was released in late 2025. The government will also review its Zero Waste Masterplan amid a decline in overall recycling rates. Ms Poh, who will speak about reducing food waste, noted that Singapore generated close to 800,000 tonnes of food waste in 2025, or an average of 128kg per person annually. Against this context, the GPC will ask the government to consider more ways to ensure Singapore's food resilience by building up local food production capability and viability, she said. The GPC will also ask the government to rethink how Singapore's food import policies and food redistribution ecosystem can be more coordinated so as to systemically reduce food waste. A good grasp of market demand can help suppliers to plan food imports without excessive waste, while the food rescue ecosystem can get unsold food to people who need it instead of letting it spoil, she said. While rising daily food expenses are top of mind for many people, upstream improvements need to be discussed so that Singapore has a robust infrastructure in the long run to serve its food needs, Ms Poh added. Ms Nadia, who will speak about making local food production more resilient, said the motion is also intended to raise public awareness and inspire people to think about and discuss their connection to food. "If you don't have that connection to food, if you don't realise what it takes to get something on our plates from the time of R&D, to production, to transport, to cooking, then I think the wastage will probably just get higher and higher. "Because you don't have that sense of stewardship and responsibility," she said. SPECIFIC PROPOSALS The two members of parliament (MPs) briefly outlined some proposals they will make when the motion is tabled. Ms Nadia said one question is how to place food resilience "front and centre" when Singapore takes on the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2027. She also pointed to rethinking the treatment of agricultural land and using the concept of a "portfolio" of farms to weave diversity into local food production. Ms Poh said she will call on the government to support food charities with grants to help them scale up. She pointed to three food rescue groups – Food Bank, Food Rescue Sengkang and Fridge Restock Community – that collectively rescue about 2,400 tonnes of food annually. This is a small fraction of the food waste generated in Singapore each year, she said. It is not known how much of the wasted food is food loss, which refers to food spoilt before it can be eaten, and how much is food waste, which refers to food thrown away prematurely or unnecessarily. She will be asking the government to track these two streams of food waste separately so that more appropriate solutions can be identified. GPC member Ms Lee will speak about strengthening food supply chains and reducing food waste through them, while Mr Ng will speak about alternative proteins. Ms Poh said the GPC had held two public engagements with about 130 members of the public in May and July to prepare for the motion. The MP for Sembawang West highlighted Happy Lunch, a community meal initiative she started in her constituency, for rescued food to be cooked and distributed to more needy residents. "I hope that there will be more community ground-up initiatives that will sprout, and then people will be more motivated to look at other ways of how we use food waste," she said. This is the second private member's motion to be tabled by a GPC in this parliamentary term. The GPCs are a part of PAP's organisational structure and comprise backbench MPs from the ruling party.