...so that you can focus on the good things in life Be it bonding over good food with your loved ones, or basking in Nature’s lush beauty with a furry companion, AVA ensures your peace of mind in enjoying life’s pleasures. We work hard behind the scenes to contribute towards your well-being by sustaining the safety of your food and the health of your pets and plants. contents: 01 Introduction 02 Chairman’s Statement 06 Board of Directors 09 Senior Management 10 Organisational Chart & Key Roles of Departments 12 Calendar of Events 14 Food Supply Resilience 22 Food Safety 36 Animal Health & Welfare 48 Plant Health acknowlegements 56 Agrotechnology Special thanks to: 68 Agri-trade Coriander Leaf Pte Ltd 76 Organisational Excellence Farm 85 Trading Forest Adventure Pte Ltd 86 Performance Indicators Hawaii Landscape Pte Ltd Rong-Yao Fisheries Pte Ltd 89 Statistics The Tessarina Financial Report Toh Orchids 93 Woon Leng Nursery for the use of their premises for photography Photography & Design by Artnexus Design Pte Ltd vision Safe food, healthy animals and plants for Singapore; trusted and respected globally. mission Ensure a resilient supply of safe food; Ensure the health & safeguard the welfare of animals; Safeguard the health of plants; Facilitate agri-trade; and Nurture and inspire staff to be the best we can be! values (ExCITe) Excellence: Integrity: We strive to be the best in all that we do. We serve with professionalism. We seek lifelong learning and continuous We treat our customers fairly and honestly. innovation. Teamwork: Care: We trust and respect each other. We value and nurture our staff. We work as a team and partner our We care for the community and the stakeholders to achieve our goals. environment. awards & accolades ISO17025 SAC-SINGLAS ACCREDITATION AWARD Awarded to: Animal Health Laboratory since January 2006, with seven new tests accredited in FY 2011 Plant Health Laboratory since June 2006, with two new tests accredited in FY 2011 Veterinary Public Health Laboratory since 2000, with nine new tests accredited in FY 2011 SINGAPORE QUALITY CLASS STAR PEOPLE DEVELOPER INNOVATION CLASS MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTER’S R&D AWARD (MERIT) for “Vertical Farming” project MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTER’S AWARD (TEAM) for “AVA’s efforts in the face of radiation threats from Japan” project PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE AWARD MERITORIOUS DEFENCE PARTNER AWARD NTUC 50 MODEL PARTNERSHIP AWARDS (INSTITUTIONAL CATEGORY) DISTINGUISHED HOME TEAM PARTNER AWARD COMMUNITY CHEST SHARE (SOCIAL HELP AND ASSISTANCE RAISED BY EMPLOYEES) AWARD Gold Award AVA chairman’s statement he past Financial Year (FY) T of 2011 (ending 31 March 2012) was a fruitful and fulfilling one for AVA. I would like to congratulate AVA on the many awards and accolades received during the FY. The success would not have been possible without the commitment and dedication from all in AVA and I extend my sincere appreciation to all AVA staff for their hard work. AVA’s robust food safety and biosecurity programmes continue to be endorsed as of a “world-class standard” by the OUR SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS International Advisory Committee of Experts (IACE). The IACE conducted its fifth review of AVA in August 2011 and affirmed AVA’s competency as the national authority for food safety and In March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan animal health. Moving forward, AVA will continue to pursue caught the world by surprise. AVA responded swiftly. We excellence in our capabilities, by exploring opportunities for took decisive measures and coordinated with other agencies greater partnership with relevant agencies and the industry. in a Whole-of-Government approach to check and test food from Japan for radioactive contaminants and issue timely In terms of organisational excellence, AVA’s efforts were updates and advisories to the public. AVA’s risk management awarded with the Singapore Quality Class (SQC) Star during approach ensured minimal disruption to the market whilst its Business Excellence (BE) Renewal Exercise. This marks a not compromising on food safety. For the speed and significant progress over its previous SQC rating. In addition, professionalism it showed in handling the crisis, AVA received AVA received renewed certifications for promoting Business the Minister’s Award (Team) from the Ministry of National Excellence, People Development and Innovation. These are Development (MND). This award recognises outstanding praiseworthy accomplishments, and I look forward to seeing MND agencies that have made significant team-based AVA reach even greater heights in its continuous journey contributions to the ministry and nation. towards organisational excellence. 2 looking after you | chairman’s statement chairman’s statement AVA Growing Emphasis on Organisational and Service Excellence To ensure that the organisation stays nimble in its response to changes and challenges ahead, AVA has embarked on various new initiatives to streamline processes, better manage and coordinate customer responses, as well as promote a collaborative and innovative culture of teamwork and excellence. These will continue to make AVA a dynamic workplace for staff, as well as an efficient and effective agency for our customers and Singapore. These endeavours have borne fruit. In FY 2011, AVA won the Minister’s R&D Merit Award for the Vertical Farming System, a novel crop-growing technique developed in collaboration with the industry to overcome the limitations of local land scarcity. I am also pleased to note that we are delivering our services more innovatively, such as through electronic platforms that provide greater convenience to customers. For example, the AVA’s interdisciplinary team received the MND Minister’s (Team) Award registration of food storage warehouses can now be completed 2011 for its performance in handling the radiation threat from Japan. online, and the renewal and registration of dog licences can be paid for via self-service AXS stations. KEEPING UP WITH THE Reviewing Regulations and Improving Policies There is also room for our regulations and policies to be reviewed CHANGING ENVIRONMENT and improved by doing things differently. I am heartened by AVA’s commitment to create pro-business changes. During this journey, the external environment around us In FY 2011, AVA won four Quarterly Pro-Enterprise Idea constantly changes and many challenges await us. These Awards from the Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP), which assesses include increasing expectations from our citizens and government agencies’ suggestions to make changes in rules industry to be consulted and engaged when the government and processes that benefit businesses by reducing compliance is formulating, reviewing, and implementing policies and cost. Of these four, one also garnered the overall Annual regulations. As a public agency serving Singapore and its Best Pro-Enterprise Idea Award (Bronze) for the proposed people, AVA is paying close heed to these calls. (5th from left to right:) Ms Tan Poh Hong, CEO of AVA receives the Minister for National Development’s R&D Award from Minister of State for National Development and Manpower, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin AVA annual report 2011 / 2012 3 AVA chairman’s statement system that automatically approves certain meat products To increase public engagement, AVA has also been listening to from selected countries for import into Singapore. This new the diverse views voiced in the social media community. The system benefits more than half of all importers in Singapore, official AVA Facebook page was set up in FY 2011 and is now an who can save a considerable amount of time and money, and active and vibrant forum where AVA connects with the public. also allows AVA to reallocate its resources more effectively to focus on more value-added services. Beyond this, AVA has recently established a Smart Regulation STRATEGIES TO NAVIGATE framework for the central coordination of the review of rules THE FUTURE and regulations in AVA. The framework is expected to help AVA create a regulatory environment that is customer friendlier, as well as introduce policies that are more transparent and less costly, so as to bring added advantages to our stakeholders. The All the above contribute to AVA’s mission to ensure food result will be lower regulatory overheads, thus allowing AVA to safety, animal health and welfare, as well as plant health for devote more effort on bringing greater value to the public. Singapore. This mission is imperative to the well-being of our nation, not just today, but also in the future. To navigate the future, AVA has formulated policies and undertaken some Listening, Engaging, and Collaborating More with Stakeholders key strategic initiatives that would serve to advance AVA’s AVA will increasingly be more proactive in seeking feedback missions. from stakeholders and in co-creating pro-business solutions with them. Apart from holding regular dialogues with industry partners, AVA also continued to collaborate with them via a Securing a Supply of Safe Food for the Long Term number of AVA-industry joint taskforces and working groups Against a global backdrop of rising food prices and shortages to tackle specific issues. caused by natural disasters, the issue of food security is especially critical to a nation whose food supply is chiefly For example, ongoing efforts – by the taskforces formed sustained by imports. Thus, AVA has formulated a food between AVA and Singapore Food Manufacturers’ Association security roadmap for Singapore which took into consideration and Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation – include facilitating consultations with the industry and other government the export of locally manufactured food and educating agencies. In this coming year, AVA will take a whole-of- consumers on food safety. The taskforces also reviewed the government approach to create integrated solutions that fee structure for laboratory testing of fishery products to be address short-term and long-term challenges, as well as exported to the EU, thus trimming costs for businesses. potential risks of disruption to food supply as set out in the food security roadmap.