The government Agri-Food and Veterinary Agency (AVA) will be shut down come April 2019, with its functions distributed to the National Parks Board (NParks) and a newly-created entity, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).

This information was released in a Ministry of National Development (MND) press release on Thursday, July 26.

The SFA will basically become a centre of all things food (food safety, food supply and food tech), and will therefore take over all food-related functions from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and National Environment Agency (NEA).

Meanwhile, all wildlife and plant matters (including animal and plant health, veterinary services, horticultural sciences) will be subsumed under NParks.

Here's a helpful reorganisation chart: 

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SFA to strengthen food security, streamline feedback channel

With food matters being streamlined under one agency, SFA will have the oversight to "strengthen Singapore’s food security and resilience" against external risks (such as climate change), which Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli says we're already seeing:

"Safeguarding Singapore’s food supply is increasingly challenging due to the complexities of global food supply chains as well as the impacts of climate change. We are already seeing the effects of climate change, such as plankton blooms from warmer sea waters and increasingly erratic rainfall patterns. The formation of the SFA is timely as Singapore aims to turn our food challenges into strategic advantages."

One such way highlighted in MND's statement was the use of innovative technologies such as vertical farming and indoor fish farming that re-uses treated water.

Singaporeans will also find it easier to submit food-related feedback since all food issues will by April next year come under the SFA's purview. The agency will also handle incidents such as "product tracing and recall" for contaminated food or food products with unapproved ingredients. 

This means that stuff like these will soon come under the SFA:

All animal-related issues will be handled by "sub-agency"under NParks

AVA's role in responding to animal abuse, animal welfare, and such will come under a new Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS), which you can think of as a "sub-agency" under NParks starting April 2019.

Aside from that, NParks will also handle wildlife management and plant health management — conservation of which will be approached in a "holistic and science-based" manner.

This means that stuff like these will soon come under NParks:

Changes to take effect April 1, 2019

These changes will take effect from April 1, 2019. In the meantime, NParks, NEA, AVA, and HSA will continue their functions. Additionally, MND mentioned that regulations and processes will be "fine-tuned" as part of the re-organisation.

You can read the MND's announcement here.

Top photo adapted via AVA Singapore