About HIDS (Healthier Choice Symbol Development)

Increasingly, Singaporeans are dining more frequently outside of home due to evolving lifestyles and for convenience. According to the National Nutrition Survey 2010, 60% of Singaporeans eat out for lunch and/or dinner at least four times a week. With the War on Diabetes announced in 2016, there has been an even greater importance on health promotion and disease prevention.

With this background, to encourage the use of new healthier ingredients by the food service industry so as to improve the diet quality of Singaporeans when eating out, Health Promotion Board introduced the Healthier Ingredient Development Scheme (HIDS) in 1 July 2017.

The HIDS covers both oil and grain staples, mainly rice and noodles, as well as sugar-sweetened beverages, sauces, desserts, wholegrain products, sweet spreads and table salt. The scheme encourages food manufacturers to innovate and develop a wider variety of healthier ingredients and products for uptake in Singapore's food service.

Scheme Coverage

There is one supportable category under HIDS, namely: (1) Product Development.

• Product Development, Packaging & Certification

Under this component, scheme participants will be supported to conduct innovations and developments of the healthier ingredient/product to be sold in Singapore. Examples include, but are not limited to, developing healthier cooking oil blends with better frying durability, developing noodles with higher wholegrain percentage, and re-formulating lower-sugar beverages using functional sugars.

Supportable Activities

Please click here for the list of Supportable Activities under each Category.

Funding Quantum

HIDS will fund up to 80% of total qualifying project investment, and scheme participants will co-pay 20% of the remaining project cost. There will be an overall cap of $200,000 across the supportable activities. Scheme participants have the flexibility to utilise the $200,000 for up to 2 years to finish the project.

Support Category	Maximum Quantum per Qualifying Period
Product Development, Packaging, and Certification	$200,000

Eligibility Criteria

The Applicant (“Company”) must fulfill the following conditions:

1. Applicant must be a business entity registered with ACRA as a sole-proprietorship, partnership or company and physically present in Singapore.
2. Applicant must intend to import healthier ingredient/product into the Singapore market, or intend to manufacture it within Singapore.
3. Applicant must intend to supply healthier ingredient/product directly or indirectly to qualifying F&B and/or retail outlets in Singapore.
4. Applicant must intend to supply healthier ingredient/product which meet the Healthier Choice Symbol nutritional technical specifications.
5. Applicant must have been in business for at least 3 years.

To apply for HIDS, please download the Application Package.

Nutrition Guidelines

Developed products must meet the nutrition guidelines specified in the "Healthier Choice Symbol Nutrition Guidelines" downloadable from here and be certified with the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) at the end of the qualifying period. HIDS supports the following categories of products:

1) Fats and Oils

• Edible oil (Food Service)

2) Cereals

• Rice (Unpolished)
• Mixed rice
• Wholegrains
• Flour (Wholemeal, Self-raising)
• Oriental noodles (Dry)
• Oriental noodles (Fresh)
• Instant noodles
• Pasta
• Bread (Loaf)
• Flat breads (Pita, Wraps)
• Buns, Rolls
• Steam buns (Pau, Mantou)

3) Beverages (Food Service)

• Malted or chocolate drink
• 3-in-1 or 2-in-1 coffee/tea beverages
• Sweetened drinks

4) Sauces

• Asian sweet sauce
• Dark soy sauce
• Soy sauce (Others) and Marinades
• Sweetened syrups
• Tomato/chilli sauces
• Asian recipe mixes
• Asian savoury sauce
• Light soy sauce
• Oyster/Vegetarian Oyster/Abalone sauce
• Other sauces (Western)
• Pasta sauce
• Soup and broth

5) Desserts

• Local and seasonal cakes
• Ice cream (includes sorbet)
• Frozen yogurt
• Local clear soup desserts
• Soup/Paste desserts (with dairy/cream)
• Ice shaving desserts
• Jellies
• Pudding
• Western cakes/ Muffins

6) Convenience Meals

• Main meals (Wholegrains)
• Small meals (Wholegrains)
• Other convenience meals (Wholegrains)

7) Sweet Spreads

• Egg jam (Kaya)
• Nuts and seed butters (e.g. Peanut butter)
• Chocolate spreads
• Fruit Spreads

8) Table Salt

 Application and Further Enquiries

To find out more about how you can apply for HIDS, please refer to the Information Package for more details.

For a list of Frequently Asked Questions, please click here.

To apply for HIDS, please download the Application Package.

To submit an application or for further enquiries, contact us at HPB_HIDS@hpb.gov.sg.

This page was last updated on 25 July 2022.