The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) today launched new services on its Food Trader Portal to allow traders to apply for import permission, report food consignment arrivals and handle matters on the release of consignments online.

The portal now covers trader registration and renewal, applications for all import licences and import permissions issued by the CFS, and the handling of the arrival reporting and release of consignments of eggs, meat, poultry, game, milk and frozen confections and consignments imported by air containing other food types.

The CFS has also implemented a series of enhancement measures, including rearranging the format of import permission and its application form to set out the name of the issuing entity of the country or place of origin and types of eggs to be imported. Detailed import conditions, including the documents required and the relevant CFS offices’ contact information, are also listed.

Importers may submit reports on consignment arrivals through the portal which will subsequently issue instructions or notices according to the specific operational flow based on food type and mode of transport.

As most of the food consignment information has been provided through the portal in advance, the time spent on consignment release at border food control offices can be shortened, the CFS said.

Based on operational needs, importers can continue to submit applications and report consignment arrivals on paper. The CFS has provided a new unified paper form for reporting consignment arrivals to food control offices at sea, land and air borders.

Importers should, however, actively consider opening user accounts if they want to use various online services on the portal, the centre added.

The CFS has been rolling out online services in phases on the portal since December 2019. It has posted presentation notes, training manuals and frequently asked questions on the new measures online for traders’ reference.