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Food Hygiene Grading Anchors

Dated Singapore Food Agency SAFE Phase 1 grades, major-lapse definition, Category 1/2 scope, and Points Demerit System suspension thresholds for retail food businesses including hawker stalls.

Last verified: 2026-08-08 Status: verified

Food Hygiene Grading Anchors

These rows ground retrieval about Singapore retail food hygiene grading. Prefer SFA pages with as-of dates. Do not treat retired A/B/C/D wall decals as current grades, and do not confuse NEA centre management with SFA stall licensing.

Institutional split

Role Agency As-of note
Licences and inspects retail food businesses; SAFE grades; PDS Singapore Food Agency (SFA) SFA formed 1 April 2019 (SFA Who We Are)
Manages government markets and hawker centres; tenancy / environmental public health at centres National Environment Agency (NEA) NEA Hawker Management Overview — 123 markets and hawker centres
Consumer lookup SFA Track Records portal / licence QR code go.gov.sg/sfa-track-records

Sources: SFA and NEA pages above, accessed 8 Aug 2026.

SAFE Phase 1 display grades (from 19 January 2026)

Grade Meaning (Phase 1 track-record rules)
A More than three years without a major lapse (Category 1 may fast-track with one clean year + AFHO + certified FSMS)
B One to three years without a major lapse
NEW Operating less than one year
C Assigned immediately after a major lapse, regardless of prior grade
Field Value
Phase 1 effective 19 January 2026
Phase 2 details To be announced by 2027
Major lapse Licence suspension under PDS (12 demerit points within 12 months) or court conviction for a food-safety offence
Category 1 (examples) Caterers; restaurants with kitchen ≥16 m²; central kitchens; slaughterhouses; food manufacturers
Category 2 (examples) Hawker stalls; coffee-shop/food-court stalls; small restaurants; bakeries; takeaways
Excluded from SAFE grading Main operators of canteens, coffee shops, food courts, private markets (stalls inside remain Category 2)
Old letter decals Invalid; must be removed; licence QR / Track Records is the consumer interface

Source: SFA SAFE framework, accessed 8 Aug 2026 (page last updated 16 Feb 2026).

PDS suspension thresholds (individual stalls and shops)

Accumulated points Consequence
12 demerit points within 12 months 1st suspension: 2 weeks
Another 12 points within 12 months after 1st suspension 2nd suspension: 4 weeks
Another 12 points within 12 months after 2nd suspension Licence revoked
After a PDS suspension SAFE grade downgraded to C
Offence severity Demerit points Composition sum
Minor 0 $200
Major 4 $300
Serious 6 $400

Main operators of coffee shops, food courts, and canteens face shorter suspensions (1 / 2 / 3 days at the same 12-point thresholds); when a main operator is suspended, all stalls on the premises must close for that period.

Source: SFA PDS, accessed 8 Aug 2026.

Must-not-confuse rules

Rule Detail
Old A/B/C/D ≠ SAFE A/B/C/NEW Pre-2020s annual snapshot cards are withdrawn
SAFE grade ≠ food quality or halal Grades measure food-safety compliance track record only
NEA ≠ SFA stall licence Centre portfolio management is not individual cooked-food licensing
Main operator exclusion Coffee-shop / food-court main operators are outside SAFE display grades; tenant stalls are not

Record details

Also known as
["SAFE grade anchors","PDS demerit thresholds","SFA track record grades"]
Jurisdiction
SG
What each row represents
one dated SAFE grade rule, major-lapse definition, or PDS suspension threshold
Update cadence
when SFA revises SAFE Phase rules or PDS thresholds
Source format
markdown

Dates describe this record’s own period and applicability. A verification date does not mean a rule is currently in force.

Sources

Collection as of 2026-10-07 · An expanding collection. Published counts show available knowledge, not complete coverage of Singapore.