A Singaporean Institute announced new measures that will bolster its offerings for professionals and companies looking to level up and create a bigger impact in the food technology sector. The initiatives will help equip the local workforce and companies with added capabilities to leverage the global momentum in sustainable food production and develop new innovative food products to meet evolving consumer demand.
The initiatives include a new small-batch food production facility that will enable local food players to trial new products on a smaller and more cost-effective scale and the introduction of a new Continuing Education Training (CET) course in High Moisture Extrusion Technology (HMET).
Designed to help food companies reduce capital and operating costs through shared facilities and services, the new solutions will fill a gap in the market for small batch production. By partnering with Enterprise Singapore and JTC, the institute will launch a facility that provides a space for a range of food companies, from startups, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to Multinational Corporation (MNCs) to test the viability of their new products via small batch production.
The new facility will provide a necessary boost to food manufacturers looking to develop and scale the rollout of new products, post-R&D. This is to address the challenges such as a lack of quality facilities, expensive equipment, large opportunity costs and high minimum order requirements from outsourced manufacturers.
Enterprise Singapore stated that the changing environment and consumer preferences make it more critical now to have differentiated products that address market needs. The new facility can help food manufacturing companies kickstart their tech innovation efforts while mitigating some of the cost and equipment challenges they may face in the current climate.
Companies need to tap the facility’s services to test-bed new technologies such as high-moisture extrusion technology and accelerate their new product commercialisation. JTC added that the new facility will plug into the large ecosystem of food companies and food startups in Singapore, and help them to accelerate the development, adoption and commercialisation of new food technologies.
Furthermore, the institute has launched a new food technology course on high moisture extrusion technology (HMET) for meat analogues. Through the course, food technology professionals will be trained HMET – a process that texturises plant-based protein into viable meat alternatives – which has also become increasingly popular due to the global meat-free movement gaining pace
With the increased availability and consumption of novel plant-based foods gaining ground in recent years, this course will benefit local companies that want to learn more about this unique food production process and include it as part of their manufacturing repertoire. Aligned with Singapore’s renewed focus on seizing growth opportunities in sustainability, the institute aims to provide a boost for the food technology sector in Singapore.
As technology in the finance industry has seen extraordinary growth in recent years, Singapore is positioning itself to take full advantage of this emerging new market, as reported by OpenGov Asia. However, the total number of online crime cases reported for the top four types (e-commerce scams, loan scams, credit-for-sex scams, and internet love scams) increased by almost 60%. To augment its scam-fighting efforts, the Singapore Police Force set up the Anti-Scam Centre (ASC), a dedicated unit within the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to tackle scam-related crimes.
To further its anti-scam outreach efforts, the ASC continue to engage and work closely with online marketplaces to introduce anti-scam measures. E-commerce scams have seen a significant increase in the number of victims falling prey to bogus transactions as well. Online marketplaces worked closely with the Police and introduced their anti-scam measures such as publishing scam advisories on their platform, via a form of escrow payment that will only release the money to the seller when the buyer acknowledges through the platform, that the item has been received in good order.
With the strong support and commitment from these strategic partners, the ASC will continue to strategise and leverage technology to implement more measures and work towards realising the CAD’s vision of making Singapore the safest and most trusted place for business and finance.
