We thank Ms Luna Raelyn Tan for her letter ("Reduce food wastage army camps", June 15) and Mr Sean Lim Wei Xin for his letter ("Put cookhouse food to better use to cut waste", June 18).

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has in place an in-house food safety management system. This includes providing a time-stamp for all packed meals, by indicating ‘Time the food is packed' and the ‘Time to consume by'. Under Singapore Food Agency's guidelines, cooked food kept between 5ºC and 60ºC should be consumed within four hours. To prevent food contamination risk arising from prolonged holding of food, unconsumed out-rations are disposed after four hours.

The SAF strives to keep food waste to a minimum. All meals served at cookhouses are planned according to the nutritional and calorie intakes required for the servicemen. The meals prepared by our cookhouse contractors are based on the training requirements of the units; the forecast of servicemen who will be consuming meals in the cookhouse as well as the number of meals packed as out-rations are also reviewed regularly.

As one of the participants in Singapore's food waste treatment project, food wastes from several SAF camps are collected and treated to generate electricity.

Colonel Chang Pin Chuan
Chief Supply Officer
Singapore Armed Forces