- During the festive season, many people will be travelling overseas and may bring back with them meat and fish items. Some members of the public may not be aware of the kind of meat and fish items that they can bring back to Singapore. The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) would like to remind the public that such importation of meat and fish products requires a licence and permit from the AVA. The AVA regulates import of meat and fish products to ensure that these products are safe for human consumption.
- At the same time, the AVA recognises that many travellers would like tobring home meat and fish products for personal consumption and not forcommercial sale. Therefore, the AVA has made the following exemptions :
- Up to a total of 5 kg of seafood products per person can be brought in from overseas. (This includes crab and prawn meat, oysters and cockles.)
- Up to a total of 5 kg of beef, mutton, pork or poultry products per person maybe brought in.
However, meat from some countries is not part of this exemption. Forinstance, beef from Britain is prohibited and only poultry is allowed fromMalaysia and Thailand. Bak Kwa from Malaysia and Thailand is not allowed.(Please see attached list for further details on Discretion for Hand-CarriedGoods). The list is based on AVA’s current list of approved countries forimports of meat and fish products.
- The AVA advises travellers to declare the fish and meat products brought in when in doubt. Travellers will be given the opportunity to surrender products which are not allowed or which exceed the allowed quantity. Surrendered products will be destroyed.
- If any disallowed products are not declared, the travellers may be liable to a penalty. Under the Wholesome Meat and Fish Act, the penalty for import of meat or fish products without a licence is a fine of up to $50,000 or jail of 2 years or both.
- The public can call the AVA’s Hotline at 1800-2262250 if they needclarification.
Issued by Agri-food & Veterinary Authority
on 9 Jan 2001
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