SINGAPORE - An online supermarket company and one of its directors have been charged in court with operating an unlicensed food processing room, as well as failing to label its frozen meat, fish and seafood products with expiry dates.

Officers from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) inspected the online supermarket's premises in July 2019 and found more than 5 tonnes of frozen meat, fish and seafood products that were unlabelled or appeared to have mislabelled expiry dates.

The company also allegedly operated an unlicensed food processing room and tampered with the room even after it had been sealed off by SFA enforcement officers, said SFA in a release on Wednesday (Nov 10).

The company and one of its directors were charged in court for multiple offences under the Wholesome Meat and Fish Act.

The SFA said that every packet of meat, fish and seafood product must be clearly marked and date labelled to ensure traceability. Anyone found guilty of not doing so may be fined up to $10,000, face a jail term of up to 12 months, or to both.

Those guilty of labelling packets of meat, fish and seafood products with any information that is false, inaccurate or misleading can be fined up to $50,000, jailed for up to two years, or both.

"All SFA-licensed premises shall conduct activities within the licensed premises in accordance with the conditions of the licence. Any unauthorised use of the premises is prohibited unless prior approval is given by the SFA," the SFA added.

Anyone found guilty of the above can be fined up to $10,000 jailed up to 12 months, or both.

Anyone who tampers with officially sealed objects or premises, hindering the authorised officers in the execution of their duty, can be fined up to $10,000, jailed up to 12 months, or both.