Company extended date markings of expired food products, gets $6,400 fine

A company was fined $6,400 on March 27 for tampering with expiry date markings on repacked food.

Officers from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) inspected the premises of Alternative Selection in April 2022 and found various prepacked food products with tampered and extended date markings, including those that had already expired.

All implicated food products were seized and disposed of.

Under the Food Regulations, no person shall remove, erase, alter, obscure, superimpose or in any way tamper with any date mark on any prepacked food.

Offenders shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000, and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $2,000.

Another food company was also fined on the same day for a different offence.

Go Go Foods Singapore and its director, Yatagawa Koichi, were fined $3,500 each for operating an unlicensed cold store.

On June 5, 2023, SFA officers inspected the company premises and found assorted meat and seafood products, such beef, unagi and crabmeat, stored in chest freezers and chillers, even though the premises was not licensed as a cold store.

Approximately 1,580kg of meat and seafood products were seized.

In Singapore, all storage facilities for meat and/or seafood products must be licensed and are required to meet SFA’s requirements and food safety standards.

Offenders found to be possessing any meat or seafood products kept in unlicensed cold stores for the purpose of selling or supplying are liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 and/or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

In the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $100,000 and/or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.