Singapore Food Agency: ‘Bak kwa’ from Malaysia still off limits

SINGAPORE, Jan 19 — The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) issued a reminder yesterday that Singapore residents cannot bring bak kwa (barbecued pork slices) back from Malaysia for now.

The SFA clarified that Malaysia is still not an approved source country for pork and beef under current regulations.

This announcement came in response to numerous complaints shared on Facebook by people who had encountered difficulties bringing bak kwa from Johor into Singapore.

In one notable case, a user named Wang Everleigh shared her disappointment on the Complaint Singapore group, revealing that she had to discard S$150 (RM500) worth of bak kwa at a Singapore Customs checkpoint.

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Others in the MY SG Road Trip — Eat, Play, Stay Malaysia! Facebook group also reported having their cars thoroughly inspected at the border, with some being asked to dispose of meat products as part of their Chinese New Year shopping.

Many had hoped that the passage of the Food Safety and Security Bill on January 8 would mean relaxed restrictions on meat imports.

However, SFA clarified that while the bill aims to increase the amount of meat that can be brought in from more countries, the implementation date for the revised limits has yet to be announced.

For the time being, SFA’s guidelines still allow individuals to bring back up to 5kg of barbecued pork slices from approved source countries such as Australia and Japan.

Until further updates, Malaysia remains off-limits for bak kwa imports.