High-nutrition Singapore tomatoes and fish could one day be served on flights, in schools, and to NSmen

A new two-year partnership between food company SATS and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) wants to bring special locally grown foods to more people in Singapore. The two groups signed an agreement on June 24 and hope to turn TLL's homegrown crops into tasty, healthy meals. These meals could one day be served to airline passengers, school students, and National Servicemen (NSmen).

TLL is a research group that has spent years developing special foods and crops. Some of their creations include tomatoes that are sweeter and packed with antioxidants, a tough type of rice that can survive floods, and a freshwater fish called jade perch. SATS wants to use these ingredients to cook nutritious meals on a large scale and eventually sell them in supermarkets and serve them on flights.

At the signing event, reporters got to taste some sample dishes. These included chicken rice made with TLL's special Temasek Rice, a tomato and cheese salad, and a spicy-sour fish dish called ikan asam pedas made with jade perch. Most dishes tasted similar to regular versions, though the rice had a noticeably starchier texture than usual.

SATS' head of innovation Jean Sin explained why the partnership makes sense. SATS is skilled at things like food safety, packaging, and large-scale food production. TLL, on the other hand, has deep scientific knowledge about developing new crops. Together, the two groups believe they can move faster from the lab to the dinner table.

The jade perch fish is especially exciting because it is rich in Omega-3, a nutrient that is good for your heart and brain. It is farmed at Singapore's first container-based urban fish farm in Tampines. The farm can produce up to 560 kilograms of jade perch per harvest, using very little land in a country where space is limited.

The Temasek Rice is another key crop in this partnership. It was developed using advanced plant breeding techniques, meaning scientists carefully selected the best traits to create a stronger grain. This rice can survive floods, go two weeks without water, and resist diseases like bacterial blight. It is already being grown with partners in Indonesia to help feed more people across Southeast Asia.

The high-nutrition tomatoes are the third item in the partnership. These tomatoes are grown at TLL's research facilities in Singapore. They look more appealing, taste sweeter, and have much higher levels of antioxidants than regular tomatoes. However, they are not yet available for the public to buy.

SATS president and CEO Kerry Mok said the recipes could be introduced 'straight away,' but the rollout depends on how much produce is available. He also said that if more Singaporeans eat these local foods, production will grow and prices will come down. This is important because buying local produce also makes Singapore less dependent on food from other countries, which strengthens food security.

A spokesperson from TLL said the biggest challenge is turning their scientific work into products that can be made in large amounts at a reasonable cost. That is why working with SATS — and using their kitchen facilities to test recipes quickly — is so helpful. TLL chief executive Peter Chia added that partners like SATS help the lab get fast feedback, make changes, and grow production more efficiently.

Under the agreement, SATS and TLL will visit each other's facilities, share knowledge, and explore business models to get these foods to consumers. SATS has also signed a separate partnership with Japanese company Mitsui to bring pre-packaged Singaporean foods like laksa to Japan.