POPPING bread into the microwave only for it to come out rock hard may be a thing of the past in the near-future.

A research and development (R&D) project here wants to get special packaging into the market here within three years, which will keep moisture inside bakery products when they are microwaved.

This project comes under one of two partnerships signed on Monday to improve the quality of packaged food and beverages, an industry worth $2.7 trillion globally last year.

The bread microwave packaging project comes under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Food Innovation and Resource Centre (FIRC) here and US company Sealed Air.

FIRC, which is based at Singapore Polytechnic on Dover Road, will be test-bedding packaging innovations by Sealed Air, said FIRC's centre director Ms Loong Mann Na.

The other MOU signed on Monday was between the Singapore Manufacturers' Federation (SMa) and the Restaurant Association of Singapore.

Said SMa's deputy president Dr Moh Chong Tau: 'Manufacturers are only good in producing food, but not in producing the taste to suit the market.

'Restaurants, on the other hand, know how to produce food that is tasty to its customers. So we are hoping to blend taste into manufacturers' products, to expand the market.'

Some food items the partnership will be looking at developing include chilli crab sauce and maybe other local favourites, said Dr Moh.

The MOUs were signed on Monday at the start of an inaugural two-day conference at Buona Vista's Biopolis called Asia Food Technology, Innovation and Safety Forum, attended by Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Manpower, Mr Lee Yi Shyan.

Read the full report in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.