© National Center for Food Science, Singapore Food Agency
The National Center for Food Science's 2026-2030 designation as a WHO Collaborating Centre builds on more than three decades of collaboration and expands NCFS's role in risk assessment, laboratory capacity and food safety emergency preparedness.
© Credits

Singapore’s National Centre for Food Science expands its role as WHO Collaborating Centre

4 September 2026
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The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that unsafe food caused 49.5 million illnesses and 367 000 deaths in the Western Pacific Region in 2021, the latest year for which estimates are available. Many of these illnesses and deaths could have been prevented. Yet keeping food safe is becoming more challenging as climate change, environmental contamination, increasingly complex supply chains and new food production methods create new and evolving risks.

Responding to these challenges requires strong science, reliable data, and laboratories capable of detecting hazards and translating evidence into timely action. In Singapore, a partnership with WHO spanning more than three decades is helping build that capacity.

Singapore Food Agency’s National Centre for Food Science (NCFS) has been a WHO collaborating centre since 1992, but on 14 August 2026, this partnership was extended and strengthened even further when NCFS became newly designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Food Contamination Monitoring and Risk Assessment for 2026-2030. The updated designation opens a new cycle of cooperation and expands NCFS’s scope beyond food contamination monitoring to include risk assessment of new food sources and production systems. 

“This marks an important new chapter in our long-standing collaboration with NCFS. The updated designation reflects the evolving nature of food safety and the growing importance of scientific evidence in supporting public health decision-making,” said Dr Huong Tran, Director of the Division of Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Control at the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific.

A long-trusted partnership for emerging risks

A group of people standing on steps in front of a wall with text National Center for Food Science.

Representatives of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific and the Singapore Food Agency at the National Centre for Food Science in Singapore, following a ceremony marking the Centre’s new designation as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Food Contamination Monitoring and Risk Assessment on 14 August 2026. © National Center for Food Science, Singapore Food Agency

WHO collaborating centres place specialized institutional expertise in the service of WHO programmes and Member States.

NCFS supports SFA’s regulatory work through laboratory testing, risk assessment, surveillance, data science and exposure analysis. Its scientists develop testing capabilities for emerging chemical, radiological and microbiological hazards while contributing expertise and data to regional and global food safety efforts.

“Food safety is one of WHO’s core public health priorities: unsafe food causes millions of illnesses and deaths, and significant loss of life and economic productivity every year. Partnerships like this one, spanning more than 30 years, are essential to making progress possible,” said Food Safety Technical Officer Dr Katherine Helena Oliveira de Matos from the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, explaining the significance of NCFS’s new designation. “With its expanded scope now including risk assessment of new food sources and production systems, NCFS continues to be a key partner for WHO in the Region and beyond.”

At the ceremony marking the new designation, representatives of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office and SFA discussed priorities for the next phase of cooperation.

A tour of NCFS laboratories highlighted work in foodborne pathogen outbreak investigations, mobile laboratory operations, viral detection, whole-genome sequencing for source attribution and preparedness for emerging food safety incidents. An engagement session also showcased NCFS projects and explored further opportunities for collaboration.

Under the renewed workplan, NCFS will support WHO in three connected areas: 

  • Building laboratory capabilities through training, proficiency testing and technical support for detecting and monitoring a broad range of foodborne hazards. 
  • Strengthening emergency preparedness and response through support for surveillance, risk analysis, laboratory systems, food safety emergency plans and regional networks, in line with International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) actions.
  • Advancing stronger food safety systems through the WHO Alliance for Food Safety, risk assessment for new food sources and production systems, data-sharing and harmonization.
“Our expanded scope reaffirms a renewed and future-ready commitment to strengthening our scientific partnership and collaboration with WHO,” said Associate Professor Joanne Chan, Centre Director of NCFS. “I am grateful to the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office for its long-standing trust and partnership, and to our scientists, risk assessors and colleagues whose dedication has made this milestone possible.”