Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

1. The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) launched a public education programme last month to create awareness of frozen meat as a cheaper alternative to chilled meat, and to educate the public on the proper handling of frozen meat.

2. AVA intends to reach out to more households and consumers on the availability and benefits of frozen meat, through newspapers, TV and radio advertisements, as well as events such as today’s Roadshow. AVA is also working with the industry to promote frozen meat and to make it available at more supermarket stores. To make it simple for consumers to try their hands at using frozen meat, celebrity chef Ms Violet Oon has developed some interesting frozen meat recipes, which have been compiled into a little recipe book , which you can freely pick up at this Roadshow.

3. Why are we putting so much effort into this programme?

4. We are all feeling the pinch from the ongoing food price inflation. This is a worldwide phenomenon, and as Singapore imports most of our food supply, we are not insulated from the price hikes. In September last year, the average price of a chilled chicken was about $4 per kg. This month, the price had risen to almost $5 per kg, a 20% increase. The price of 1kg packs of chilled chicken drumsticks has also risen by about 6%.¹

5. What AVA and its industry partners can do, is to make sure that we are able to continue importing food from diversified sources at competitive prices, so that consumers will have a wide range of choices to select from – different brands, plenty of alternatives. Consumers can then play their part in managing their expenditure by making informed decisions. One way to stretch the marketing dollar is to consider buying frozen meat, which is generally 20% cheaper, yet equally wholesome compared to chilled meat.

6. Singaporeans are generally willing to indulge in restaurant or hawker food, even though they know that it is cooked using frozen meat. However, when it comes to purchasing raw meat for themselves and their families, many still prefer to fork out more to buy chilled meat.

7. This may be due to misunderstanding of facts about frozen meat. AVA has therefore produced a brochure to dispel misconceptions on the quality and wholesomeness of frozen meat, and to educate consumers on the proper storage and handling of frozen meat.

8. For example, it is a common household practice to buy chilled meat and then freeze the extra potions we are not immediately using, without realising that the home freezer cannot be compared to a commercial freezer. In doing so, you may end up with poor quality meat that is drier and tougher, as some nutrients will be lost when the meat is thawed. This being the case, why not choose the cheaper, yet equally good frozen option in the first place? You might ask - How much cheaper are we talking about? Take chicken wings for example, for this month, a kilo of chilled wings is about $8.40 but the frozen one costs $4. That is more than 50% cheaper. Similarly, chilled beef steak costs $27.50 per kg, and frozen ones $11, almost 60% cheaper. For pork, chilled loins are $12.85 per kg compared with frozen loins at $8.75. More than 30% less.

9. Having said this, we also recognise that some consumers have found it hard to try out frozen meat because they often come in large-size packages. At present, frozen pork, beef and lamb are available in small retail packs of 250g and 500g in some supermarkets outlets, while frozen chicken are usually in larger packs of 1 or 2 kg. We agree that more can be done to improve the packaging to suit the demands of different consumers. AVA is working with importers to provide a wider range of frozen meat products in more family-friendly and attractive packs, and to display them more prominently in supermarket stores.

10. We also understand that changing consumer mindset and habits is not easy. So, what we are doing is to provide you with relevant information and simple-to-use guides, as well as to invite celebrity and restaurant chefs to share their experiences and prepare some simple recipes that can be re-created at home. Consumers can then decide for themselves whether or how to make the switch. We will be surprised that if we do it well, our family members may not notice the difference, yet we are helping to save money for the family.

11. At this point, I would like to thank our industry partners and sponsors who are working closely with us on this public education programme, to help consumers better manage their grocery bills.

12. The key message as summed up by the tagline, “Eat Well for Less, Choose Frozen Meat”, is that we can still eat quality products at a lower cost.

13. Thank you.

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