PART 4 | FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS, MARKETS AND HAWKERS |
| Administration of this Part and Part 9 |
| 31W.—(1) The Director‑General, Food Administration is responsible for the administration of this Part and Part 9, subject to the general or special directions of the Minister charged with the responsibility for food safety. [11/2019] (2) The Director‑General, Food Administration may, subject to the directions of the Minister charged with the responsibility for food safety, appoint any of the following individuals to be an authorised officer for the purpose of assisting the Director‑General, Food Administration in administering and carrying out the provisions of this Part and Part 9:| (a) | an employee of the Singapore Food Agency; | | (b) | an employee of another statutory authority; | | (c) | a public officer; | | (d) | an auxiliary police officer appointed under the Police Force Act 2004. [11/2019] |
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| (3) The Director‑General, Food Administration may delegate the exercise of all or any of the powers conferred or duties imposed upon the Director‑General, Food Administration by any provision of this Act (except the power of delegation conferred by this subsection) to an authorised officer appointed under subsection (2); and any reference in any provision of this Act to the Director‑General, Food Administration includes a reference to such an authorised officer. [11/2019] |
| (4) Any delegation under subsection (3) may be general or in a particular case and may be subject to such conditions or limitations as set out in this Act or as the Minister charged with the responsibility for food safety may specify. [11/2019] |
| (5) The Director‑General, Food Administration may, for any reason that appears to him or her to be sufficient, at any time revoke a person’s appointment under subsection (2) as an authorised officer. [11/2019] |
| (6) An individual mentioned in subsection (2)(d) who is appointed as an authorised officer does not, by virtue only of the appointment, become an employee or agent of the Singapore Food Agency. [11/2019] |
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| Food establishments to be licensed |
| 32.—(1) A person must not operate or use or knowingly permit a food establishment to be used for any of the purposes specified in the First Schedule without first obtaining a licence from the Director‑General, Food Administration. [11/2019] | (2) Upon any conviction for contravening subsection (1), the Director‑General, Food Administration may, by written order addressed to the convicted person, require that the place or premises or any part of the place or premises where the offence took place must no longer be operated or used as a food establishment as from such date as the Director‑General, Food Administration must specify in the order. [11/2019] |
(3) Where the convicted person fails to comply with any order under subsection (2), the Director‑General, Food Administration —| (a) | may take any steps or measures that are necessary to ensure that the order is complied with; and | | (b) | is entitled to recover from that person the costs and expenses incurred by the Director‑General, Food Administration in doing so. [11/2019] |
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| Licensing of hawkers operating from stalls, etc. |
33. A person must not —| (a) | hawk, sell or expose for sale any food or goods of any kind; or | | (b) | set up or use any stall, table, showboard, vehicle or receptacle for the purpose of hawking, selling or exposing for sale any food or goods of any kind, |
| in any street or part of the street or in any premises or public place without first obtaining a licence from the Director‑General, Food Administration. |
[11/2019] |
| Licensing of itinerant hawkers |
| 34.—(1) A person must not act as an itinerant hawker without first obtaining a licence from the Director‑General, Food Administration. [11/2019] | (2) The Director‑General, Food Administration may, subject to any conditions that he or she may think fit, permit licensed itinerant hawkers to occupy stationary positions for any period that he or she may think fit on any site or sites that may from time to time be approved by him or her for this purpose. [11/2019] |
| (3) The Director‑General, Food Administration may prohibit itinerant hawkers from hawking in any place or places that he or she may think fit. [11/2019] |
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| Director‑General, Food Administration may issue temporary permits |
| 35. A person must not promote, organise or stage any temporary fair or other such function or activity without first obtaining a permit from the Director‑General, Food Administration. [11/2019] |
| Licences for private markets |
| 36. A person must not use any building, situation or place as a private market without first obtaining a licence from the Director‑General, Food Administration. [11/2019] |
| Persons with infectious diseases not to carry on business |
| 37.—(1) The Director‑General, Food Administration may require any person to whom a licence has been issued under this Part (called in this Part a licensee) or any assistant or employee of the licensee or any applicant for a licence under this Part to submit to medical examination. [11/2019] | (2) If the licensee, assistant, employee or applicant is suffering from or is suspected to be suffering from an infectious disease or is suspected to be a carrier of the infectious disease, the Director‑General, Food Administration may require him or her to undergo treatment. [11/2019] |
| (3) The Director‑General, Food Administration may require that treatment to be obtained at any hospital as he or she may think fit. [11/2019] |
| (4) The Director‑General, Food Administration may require any licensee or any assistant or employee of the licensee to submit to immunisation against any infectious disease. [11/2019] |
| (5) Every licensee must ensure that the licensee’s assistant or any person employed by the licensee is immunised against any infectious disease as required by the Director‑General, Food Administration. [11/2019] |
(6) The Director‑General, Food Administration may, at any time, revoke or suspend any licence issued under this Part if —| (a) | the licensee is suffering from an infectious disease; | | (b) | the licensee knowingly employs any person who is suffering from or is suspected to be suffering from an infectious disease; | | (c) | the licensee or the licensee’s assistant or employee refuses to comply with any requisition made by the Director‑General, Food Administration under subsection (1), (2) or (3); and | | (d) | the licensee does not comply with subsection (5). [11/2019] |
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| 38.—(1) A licensee, stall-holder or other person must not erect any extension or effect any extension to any stall, shed or other place in or out of any food establishment without the permission of the Director‑General, Food Administration or cause any obstruction in any of the passageways or other places therein. [11/2019] | (2) The Director‑General, Food Administration may, by written notice, require any person who contravenes subsection (1) to remove any erection, structure or obstruction within a period specified in the notice. [11/2019] |
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| Cleanliness of markets and stalls |
39.—(1) Every licensee of a private market must keep the market in a clean and sanitary condition.| (2) Every licensee of a stall must keep the stall and the immediate vicinity of the stall in a clean and sanitary condition. |
| (3) Where, in the opinion of the Director‑General, Food Administration, a licensee of a private market or a stall‑holder has failed to comply with subsection (1) or (2) (as the case may be), the Director‑General, Food Administration may, by written notice, require the licensee, within the period that may be specified in the notice, to take any steps that the Director‑General, Food Administration may think fit for the purpose of complying with those subsections. [11/2019] |
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| Articles of food unfit for human consumption |
40.—(1) A person must not, without lawful excuse, have in the person’s possession for sale by retail any article of food intended for human consumption which is unsound or unfit for human consumption.(2) The Director‑General, Food Administration or an authorised officer may at all reasonable times —| (a) | enter into and inspect any place which is used, or which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing to be used —| (i) | for the sale by retail of articles of food intended for human consumption; or | | (ii) | for the preparation or storage of such articles intended for sale; and |
| | (b) | search any cart or vehicle or any basket, sack, bag, parcel or receptacle which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing to contain for sale by retail articles of food intended for human consumption and may examine any such articles therein. [11/2019] |
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| (3) If it appears to the Director‑General, Food Administration or an authorised officer that any such article of food is unsound or unfit for human consumption, the article may be seized by the Director‑General, Food Administration or authorised officer. [11/2019] |
| (4) Any article of food seized may be kept or stored in the place or premises where it was seized or may at the direction of the Director‑General, Food Administration or an authorised officer be removed to any other place or, where the article is likely to decay or is deleterious to health, be destroyed. [11/2019] |
| (5) A certificate signed by the Director‑General, Food Administration is to be accepted by a Magistrate’s Court as sufficient evidence that any article of food seized was unsound or unfit for human consumption at the time of seizure. [11/2019] |
| (6) A person claiming any article of food seized under this section may, within 48 hours after the seizure, complain of the seizure to a Magistrate’s Court. |
| (7) The complaint may be heard and determined by the Magistrate’s Court, which may either confirm or disallow the seizure wholly or in part, or may order any article of food seized to be returned to the owner and may order payment to be made to the owner of the article of any amount that the Court considers will compensate the owner for any loss or depreciation resulting from the seizure. |
| (8) If within 48 hours after the seizure no complaint has been made, or if the seizure is confirmed, every article of food seized becomes the property of the Singapore Food Agency and must be destroyed or otherwise disposed of so as to prevent the article from being used for human consumption. [11/2019] |
| (9) A person must not obstruct the Director‑General, Food Administration or an authorised officer in the exercise of his or her powers under this section or tamper with any article of food kept or stored in any place or premises under subsection (4). [11/2019] |
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| Cleanliness of vehicles, equipment, etc. |
41.—(1) Any person who uses a vehicle for the transportation of food must ensure that the surface of the vehicle with which the food is likely to come into contact is kept in a state of cleanliness, good order and condition so as to prevent any risk of contamination of the food.| (2) The Director-General, Food Administration may, by written notice, require any person who uses a vehicle to transport food to use or install in or on the vehicle any device or equipment as he or she thinks fit to ensure that the food carried in or on the vehicle will not be contaminated. [11/2019] |
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| Penalties for offences under this Part |
41A.—(1) Any person who contravenes section 32(1), 33, 34(1), 35, 36, 37(5), 38(1), 39(1) or (2), 40(1) or (9) or 41(1) shall be guilty of an offence and —| (a) | in the case of any contravention of section 33, 34(1), 37(5), 39(2) or 41(1) —| (i) | the person shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000; and | | (ii) | where the person is a repeat offender, the person shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both; and |
| | (b) | in the case of any contravention of section 32(1), 35, 36, 38(1), 39(1) or 40(1) or (9) —| (i) | the person shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000; and | | (ii) | where the person is a repeat offender, the person shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both. [15/2014] |
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(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person is a repeat offender in relation to an offence under subsection (1) if the person who is convicted, or found guilty, of an offence under that subsection (called the current offence) for contravening section 32(1), 33, 34(1), 35, 36, 37(5), 38(1), 39(1) or (2), 40(1) or (9) or 41(1) —| (a) | has been convicted or found guilty on at least one other earlier occasion of an offence under that subsection for contravening the same provision as the current offence; or | | (b) | has (whether before, on or after 1 April 2014) been convicted or found guilty on at least one other earlier occasion of an offence under section 42(1) in force immediately before that date for contravening the same provision as the current offence. [15/2014] |
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| 42.—(1) Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this Part may be arrested without warrant by any police officer or authorised officer and taken before a Magistrate’s Court. [15/2014] | (2) Despite subsection (1) or any other written law for the time being in force, any police officer or authorised officer, who, having effected an arrest in accordance with subsection (1), is satisfied as to the identity, name and place of residence of the person arrested, may, instead of taking that person before a Magistrate’s Court or to a police station serve upon that person a notice in any form that may be prescribed under section 108 requiring that person to attend at the Court described at the hour and on the date specified in the notice. |
| (3) For the purpose of satisfying himself or herself as to the identity of the person arrested, the police officer or authorised officer may require the person arrested to furnish such evidence of identity as the officer may consider necessary. |
| (4) A duplicate of the notice served under subsection (2) must be prepared by the police officer or authorised officer (as the case may be) and produced by him or her to a Magistrate’s Court if so required by the Court. |
| (5) On an accused person appearing before a Magistrate’s Court pursuant to the notice, the Court is to take cognizance of the offence alleged and is to proceed as though he or she were produced before it under subsection (1). |
| (6) If a person upon whom a notice under subsection (2) has been served fails to appear before a Magistrate’s Court in accordance with the notice, the Court is to thereupon issue a warrant for the arrest of that person. |
| (7) Upon a person arrested pursuant to a warrant issued under subsection (6) being produced before it, a Magistrate’s Court is to proceed as though the person were produced before it under subsection (1). [Act 31 of 2022 wef 01/11/2022] |
| (8) Any stall, together with any appliances and utensils relating thereto and the food or goods intended or exposed for sale, whether or not they appear to be abandoned, belonging or appearing to belong to or in the possession of a person appearing to be committing or to have committed an offence under this Part may be seized by any police officer or authorised officer and removed to and detained in any police station or any other place that may be approved by the Director‑General, Food Administration at the risk of the owner, to abide the directions of a Magistrate’s Court. [11/2019] |
| (9) If any money is found, together with any food, articles, appliances or utensils seized under subsection (8), the money is deemed to be lawfully seized. |
| (10) Any money seized under subsection (9) if it is claimed within 48 hours after the seizure by the owner of the money must be returned to the owner whether or not the owner is licensed under this Part. |
| (11) Any cooked or uncooked food or perishable articles or goods, seized and removed under subsection (8) and likely to decay may be disposed of immediately. |
| (12) If any abandoned articles or goods so seized and detained, other than cooked or uncooked food or perishable articles or goods already disposed of, are claimed within 48 hours after the seizure by the owner thereof (being a person licensed or otherwise lawfully entitled to set up or sell the articles or goods at the place at which the articles or goods were seized), the abandoned articles or goods must be returned to the owner. |
| (13) Every seizure must, except when the articles, goods or money have been returned to the owner, be reported to a Magistrate’s Court. |
| (14) The Magistrate’s Court is, on convicting any person of an offence under section 41A(1) or on receiving a report in respect of any abandoned articles which were apparently being used in connection with the sale of food or goods, to order the property seized under subsection (8) to be forfeited and to be disposed of in any manner that the Court may think fit. [15/2014] |
| (15) The Magistrate’s Court may, on receiving a report in respect of any abandoned articles which were not apparently being used in connection with the sale of food or goods, order the property seized under subsection (8) to be forfeited and to be disposed of in any manner that the Court thinks fit. |
| (16) If the Magistrate’s Court directs the sale of any article, the proceeds or such part of the proceeds as the Court may think fit must be paid to the Singapore Food Agency and the balance (if any) paid to the owner. [11/2019] |
| (17) The Magistrate’s Court may, on convicting any person for an offence under section 41A(1), order any money seized under subsection (9) to be returned to the person if the person satisfies the Court that the person is the owner of the money. [15/2014] |
(18) The Magistrate’s Court —| (a) | on convicting any person for an offence under section 41A(1) and where the person does not satisfy the Court that the person is the owner of any money seized under subsection (9); or | | (b) | on receiving a report in respect of any abandoned money, |
| is to order that money to be forfeited and paid to the Singapore Food Agency. |
[15/2014; 11/2019] |
| (19) This section applies, with the necessary modifications, to any person who contravenes any regulations made under this Act for the control of matters under this Part. |
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| Regulations for this Part |
42A.—(1) The Minister charged with the responsibility for food safety may make regulations for or in respect of every purpose which the Minister considers necessary or expedient for carrying out the provisions of this Part, and in particular —| (a) | the control, regulation and supervision of markets (and anything in a market and places in the vicinity of a market) and of persons engaged or employed in a market; | | (b) | the seizure and disposal of unwholesome meat, fish, fruit, vegetables or other food or drink exposed or intended for sale; | | (c) | the use and management of stalls, tables or showboards set up for the sale of any goods in public streets or places of public resort; | | (d) | specifying of streets, places and areas (or parts thereof) at which hawkers are prohibited; | | (e) | prescribing the articles, or types or classes of articles, that may be sold from or exposed for sale in or on any stall, vehicle or other receptacle in any public street or place or by any itinerant hawker, and premises where any such article is prepared or stored and the manner in which any such article is prepared or transported; | | (f) | the form and manner in which, and the time within which, an application for a licence or permit or an application to renew a licence or permit may be made, and the information and evidence required to be provided in connection with the application; and | | (g) | the fees to be paid to the Singapore Food Agency in respect of applications for and the grant and renewal or late renewal of any licence or permit, and otherwise in connection with the administration of this Part, and the waiver, reduction or refund of fees charged. [11/2019] |
(2) In addition, the regulations made under subsection (1) may —| (a) | prescribe the offences under this Part that may be compounded, designate the officers of the Singapore Food Agency who may compound those offences and the maximum sum for which any such offence may be compoundable, which must not exceed one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence or $5,000, whichever is lower; | | (b) | provide that any contravention of any provision of the regulations shall be an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $20,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, with a further fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction; and | | (c) | provide for any transitional, saving and other consequential, incidental and supplemental provisions that are necessary or expedient. [11/2019] |
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| (3) All regulations made under this section must be published in the Gazette and be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication. [11/2019] |
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