Reference
Singapore Flavouring Regulations
A clause-by-clause reference
Instruments retrieved 12 September 2026. Singapore Statutes Online showed the Sale of Food Act 1973 and the Food Regulations as current as at that date.
Singapore does not permit flavourings from a positive list. Regulation 22(1) of the Food Regulations defines a flavouring agent by what it does, and what the regulation binds hard is the carrier and the blacklist: twelve permitted solvents, and sixteen substances prohibited outright rather than capped.
This page sets out each governing clause in turn: a plain-English sentence, the wording of the instrument itself, and the citation. Nothing here is paraphrased into a quotation, and nothing is stated that the named instrument does not say.
Section 01
What a flavouring agent is
Singapore defines a flavouring agent by function rather than by a list of approved substances, so the compliance question is never whether a substance appears on a Singapore register.
In these Regulations, “flavouring agent” means any wholesome substance that when added or applied to food is capable of imparting taste or odour, or both, to a food.
In principle, SFA has no objection to the use of flavouring substances that have been evaluated and endorsed by recognised international bodies such as the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), the Flavour and Extract Manufacturers’ Association (FEMA), or the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), under good manufacturing practice (GMP), provided that the flavouring preparations do not contain any of the prohibited substances listed under Regulation 22(7) of the Food Regulations.
The SFA document that carries that note is guidance, and says so of itself: “This guidance document is not legally binding, and should be read together with the Food Regulations” (same document, preamble, p 1). An accommodation for internationally evaluated substances is not a statutory permitted list, and there is no product-level approval or registration of individual flavourings in Singapore.
Section 02
Permitted solvents
The binding list in regulation 22 is a list of solvents, not of flavour substances, and it is exhaustive: an essence carried in anything else may not be imported, sold or used.
No person shall import, sell, advertise, manufacture, consign or deliver any natural or synthetic flavouring essence or extract which is contained in a solvent other than a permitted solvent, namely, 1,3‑propanediol, benzyl alcohol, beta-cyclodextrin, diacetin, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, ethyl alcohol, glycerol, isopropyl alcohol, propylene glycol, triacetin and water.
The permitted solvents referred to in paragraph (2) other than water shall conform with the British Pharmacopoeia standard.
Twelve solvents, eleven of them at pharmacopoeial grade. This is why a solvent or carrier declaration naming the solvent system is the first document to ask a supplier for, and why a carrier outside the twelve is not a specification detail but a compliance failure.
Section 03
Prohibited flavouring substances
Sixteen named substances are prohibited outright as flavouring agents, with no permitted level, and the prohibition follows the substance into synthetic essences supplied for food manufacture.
The use of coumarin, tonka bean, safrole, sassafras oil, dihydrosafrole, isosafrole, agaric acid, nitrobenzene, dulcamara, pennyroyal oil, oil of tansy, rue oil, birch tar oil, cade oil, volatile bitter almond oil containing hydrocyanic acid and male fern as flavouring agents is prohibited.
No person shall import, sell, advertise, manufacture, expose or offer for sale, consign or deliver with a view to it being used in the preparation of food for human consumption, any synthetic flavouring essence or extract which contains any of the prohibited substances specified in paragraph (7).
Reading a parts-per-million ceiling into this clause is the commonest error made by buyers working from European or American practice. Regulation 22(7) is a prohibition, not a maximum level, so a coumarin or safrole figure that would be lawful elsewhere has no application in Singapore.
Section 04
Natural flavouring essences and extracts
In Singapore “natural” has a regulatory meaning tied to the plant the essence is named after, and “synthetic” is defined by the origin of the flavouring principle rather than by how closely it resembles anything.
Natural flavouring agents shall include natural flavouring essences, spices and condiments.
Natural flavouring essences or extracts shall be preparations in any permitted solvent or any combination of permitted solvents, with or without sweeteners other than sweetening agents, permitted colouring matter or chemical preservatives, of sapid or odoriferous principles, or both, derived from a plant after which the flavouring extract or essence is named.
Synthetic flavouring essences or extracts shall include any artificial flavour or imitation flavour which may resemble the sapid or odoriferous principles of an aromatic plant, fruit or vegetable or any other food, except that the flavouring principle shall be derived in whole, or in part, from either chemical synthesis or any other sources that does not involve extraction or isolation therefrom of the sapid or odoriferous principles present in an aromatic plant, fruit or vegetable or any other food.
Two consequences follow for a specification. A natural essence must be in a permitted solvent (section 2 above), and it must be derived from the plant it is named after, which is a sourcing statement a supplier either can or cannot make.
Section 05
Flavour enhancers are a separate closed list
Regulation 23 governs flavour enhancers, and unlike regulation 22 it is a closed positive list: anything not named in it may not be used.
No person shall import, sell, advertise, manufacture, consign or deliver any flavour enhancer for use in food intended for human consumption other than: (a) ethyl maltol; (b) L-glutamic acid, mono-sodium L-glutamate, monopotassium L-glutamate, calcium di‑L‑glutamate, monoammonium L-glutamate and magnesium di-L-glutamate; (c) Inosinic acid, guanylic acid, di-sodium 5’‑inosinate … (d) L-cysteine; (e) L-theanine in the following foods at a level not exceeding 1000 ppm … (f) L-theanine in salt substitutes at a level not exceeding 15,000 ppm.
No person shall import, sell, advertise, manufacture, consign or deliver any article of food intended for human consumption containing a flavour enhancer other than a permitted flavour enhancer specified in paragraph (2).
Regulation 22 contains no equivalent of regulation 23(5). That asymmetry is the whole answer to “does Singapore have a positive list for flavourings?”: it has one for enhancers and not for flavourings, and carrying the enhancer rule across to flavourings produces the wrong compliance test in both directions. The L-theanine limits entered regulation 23 by S 425/2024, in force 31 May 2024.
Section 06
Labelling: the generic term and the allergen carry-over rule
A flavouring may be declared on a Singapore label by a generic term with a fixed set of qualifiers, but since 30 January 2026 an allergen carried into a food through a flavouring may not hide behind that generic term.
11. Any flavouring — Flavour or flavouring, qualified by the words “natural”, “nature identical” or “artificial”, or a combination of any of these words, if applicable
where any food or ingredient mentioned in sub‑paragraph (ea) is carried over from an ingredient into a finished food product, the food or ingredient mentioned in that sub‑paragraph (as the case may be) must be specified by its appropriate designation, but not by the generic term for it in the second column of the First Schedule
a list of ingredients containing the appropriate designation of each ingredient (other than any processing aid) … “appropriate designation” means a name or description (being a specific and not a generic name or description) that indicates the true nature of the ingredient or constituent to which it is applied except as provided in the First Schedule
The eight allergen classes that trigger regulation 5(4)(b)(vii) are set out in reg 5(4)(ea): cereals containing gluten, crustacea, eggs, fish, peanuts and soybeans, milk including lactose, tree nuts, and sulphites at 10 mg/kg or more. The practical effect of the 2026 amendment is that a supplier's written allergen declaration becomes the buyer's labelling evidence rather than a courtesy document.
Section 07
Licensing and registration
Licensing in Singapore attaches to the business, not to the flavouring: the Sale of Food Act licenses non-retail food businesses, and the Singapore Food Agency separately registers importers of processed food.
A person must not carry on a non‑retail food business except in accordance with a licence issued to the person by the Director‑General under this Part.
(h) the processing or packing of herbs or spices for the purpose of sale to wholesalers or retail food businesses, or for export; (i) manufacturing or preparing (including by blending and packing) dry mix products such as cake mix, drinking chocolate, tea bags and powdered soup for sale to wholesalers or retail food businesses, or for export
Two limits on what can be said here, both deliberate. Section 2F(2)'s list does not name flavour compounding, and the statutory basis for the licence the Singapore Food Agency calls a Licence to Operate a Food Processing Establishment was not established from a primary source, so the classification of a flavour house should be confirmed with the agency rather than asserted. Separately, the import instrument that covers a flavouring is the Registration to Import Processed Food Products and Food Appliances, listed by the agency as free with a one working day processing time; its validity period is left unstated here because the agency's own two pages disagree, one describing the registration as consignment-based and the other as annual. That conflict was unresolved at the retrieval date and should be checked with the agency directly rather than resolved by picking a side.
Section 08
Halal certification
Only one body may issue a halal certificate in Singapore, certification is voluntary, and a flavouring sits in the highest halal-risk tier, which is the tier that requires a certificate rather than a questionnaire.
Under the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA), MUIS is vested with the sole legal powers to issue Halal certificates in Singapore.
Established in 1978, MUIS Halal Certification is voluntary.
(c) High — Halal certificates marks from MUIS and/or MUIS-recognised Halal certification bodies
Contain flavouring, gelatine or meat and its derivatives
For a buyer holding halal certification, that tier is the operative fact: a flavouring cannot be substantiated with a specification sheet or a supplier questionnaire, and needs a halal certificate from MUIS or from a certification body MUIS recognises. Certificates are time-limited, so verify the certificate and its expiry at the MUIS halal establishments directory rather than accepting a copy of a PDF.
Section 09
Codex CXG 66-2008 definitions
Codex Alimentarius supplies the international definitions that Singapore's regulation does not, and the two sets do not line up in one important respect.
Flavourings are products that are added to food to impart, modify, or enhance the flavour of food (with the exception of flavour enhancers considered as food additives under the Codex Class Names and the International Numbering System for Food Additives - CAC/GL 36-1989). Flavourings do not include substances that have an exclusively sweet, sour, or salty taste (e.g. sugar, vinegar, and table salt). Flavourings may consist of flavouring substances, natural flavouring complexes, thermal process flavourings or smoke flavourings and mixtures of them and may contain non-flavouring food ingredients (Section 2.3) within the conditions as referred to in 3.5. They are not intended to be consumed as such.
Natural flavouring substances are flavouring substances obtained by physical processes that may result in unavoidable but unintentional changes in the chemical structure of the components of the flavouring (e.g. distillation and solvent extraction), or by enzymatic or microbiological processes, from material of plant or animal origin. Such material may be unprocessed, or processed for human consumption by traditional food-preparation processes (e.g. drying, torrefaction (roasting) and fermentation). This means substances that have been identified / detected in a natural material of animal or vegetable origin.
Synthetic flavouring substances are flavouring substances formed by chemical synthesis.
The use of flavourings is justified only where they impart or modify flavour to food, provided that such use does not mislead the consumer about the nature or quality of food.
CAC/GL 66-2008 runs to three pages and its full definition set is: flavour (2.1), flavourings (2.2), flavouring substances (2.2.1), natural flavouring substances (2.2.1.1), synthetic flavouring substances (2.2.1.2), natural flavouring complexes (2.2.2), smoke flavourings (2.2.3) and non-flavouring food ingredients (2.3). Read against that list, the guideline defines no “nature identical” category and no “artificial” category. Singapore's First Schedule item 11 permits “nature identical” as a label qualifier, which is a labelling permission rather than a Codex definition, and the two should not be cited as though they were the same thing.
Section 10
How to cite this page
Suggested citation, with the retrieval date that applies to every clause quoted above:
VKA, “Singapore Flavouring Regulations: a clause-by-clause reference”, vkaff.com, retrieved 12 September 2026. https://vkaff.com/reference/singapore-flavouring-regulations
This page is a reading of the instruments named in it, not legal advice. Every clause quoted was retrieved on the date above from the publisher listed in Sources; Singapore Statutes Online showed the Act and the Regulations as current as at that date. Where a source was internally inconsistent, section 7 says so rather than choosing a reading.
Sources
- Food Regulations, reg 22 (Flavouring agents), Singapore Statutes Online
- Food Regulations, reg 23 (Flavour enhancers), Singapore Statutes Online
- Food Regulations, reg 5 (General requirements for labelling), Singapore Statutes Online
- Food Regulations, First Schedule (Permitted use of generic terms in the declaration of ingredients), Singapore Statutes Online
- Food Regulations, reg 15 (Food additives), Singapore Statutes Online
- Sale of Food Act 1973, s 21 (Non-retail food business must be licensed), Singapore Statutes Online
- Sale of Food Act 1973, s 2F (Meaning of non-retail food business), Singapore Statutes Online
- Food Additives Permitted under the Singapore Food Regulations (as at 31 May 2024), Singapore Food Agency
- Requirements for Licence / Registration for Food Manufacturing and Storage, Singapore Food Agency
- Businesses that Need Licence / Permit / Registration for Import / Export, Singapore Food Agency
- Application Process and Fees for Licence / Permit / Registration for Import / Export, Singapore Food Agency
- Halal / About (Administration of Muslim Law Act s 88A), Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura
- MUIS Halal Certification Conditions, Version 4.1, clause 3.5 and Annex A
- e-Service, Halal Establishments directory, Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura
- Guidelines for the Use of Flavourings, CAC/GL 66-2008, FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius
Related reading
- SFA Flavour Labelling in Singapore
How the clauses in sections 6 and 7 above play out on a finished pack, including the 30 January 2026 amendments.
- Choosing a Flavour Supplier in Asia
The documents to ask a supplier for, each tied to the clause that makes it necessary.
- What Natural Flavours Actually Are
The same definitional question across four jurisdictions, with the Codex position in section 9 as the international reference.