Temperature-controlled rooms and insulated walls: New food factory offers options to keep raw ingredients fresh

Keeping meat, vegetables and other food fresh as they make their way from other countries to Singapore is no small feat.

For food safety and to minimise food loss and waste, temperatures have to be kept consistently low and every logistics provider along this cold chain must have the appropriate equipment, such as trucks with insulated walls and cooling systems to maintain their cold interior temperature.

Local developer Chiu Teng Group understands the importance of such end-to-end cold chain management. To boost Singapore's cold chain capabilities and thus its food storage capacity, the firm is opening a new freehold food factory with cold chain-capable units in the heart of Mandai.

The 10-storey CT FoodNEX building is close to the area's farms and just an eight-minute drive from the Woodlands Causeway, reducing precious time in transporting raw ingredients from the farms in Malaysia.

It is also next to the forthcoming Sungei Kadut Eco-District's 18ha Agri-Food Innovation Park, which will support high-tech farms, research and more, fostering even more business opportunities for the food factory's occupants.

Mr Paul Tan, a client who purchased one of the units, says: "CT FoodNEX has the best specifications among food factories and, since it is freehold, it is the best investment you can have. The development of the Turf City site will also increase the demand for food delivery in the near future."

A food factory fit for cold chains

Mr Nicholas Tan, CT FoodNEX's sales and leasing manager, highlights the cold chain-capable units' generous specifications for temperature-controlled storage and operations. With floor-to-floor heights ranging from 7.475m to 8.175m on level one, huge 40-foot refrigerated articulated container vehicles can back into the units to unload their goods.

"These 40-foot articulated vehicles help to reduce transportation costs through economies of scale, and there are not many food factories in Mandai with the ability to accommodate such vehicles. By having such articulated vehicles and a chilled food factory unit, you can unload the food from these vehicles without breaking the cold chain," he says.

Buyers can also purchase the unit directly above their cold chain-capable one to expand their operations vertically. He explains: "Subject to the authorities' approval, you could build a lift to connect your level one and level two units, so that you can receive and process goods on the ground level, and then send them up to level two for storage."

The units on the second level have loading and unloading bays for up to 20-foot articulated vehicles, making them ideal to distribute the processed goods to an array of customers. Moreover, the ground level cold chain-capable units have mezzanine areas that can be used as workers' rest areas or for other ancillary purposes, as approved by the authorities.

Strengthening Singapore's food security

Mr Tan elaborates: "Buying a unit in a building with entry-level specs may be cheaper upfront, but the problem is that it will limit the potential of your business in the long run. That's why at CT FoodNEX, we are end-user centric and our high-specs food factory units can help to assist future tenants to grow in the long term."

With Singapore aiming to strengthen its food security, including through its "30 by 30" plan to produce enough food locally to meet 30 per cent of its nutritional needs by 2030, raising its food storage capabilities will become increasingly important.

Mr Tan shares: "I like to think that by offering cold chain-capable units in CT FoodNEX for food storage and other operations, as well as our other units, we are doing our own small part to help bring fresh food to Singaporeans, and make Singapore more food-secure."

For more information, visit www.ctfoodnex.com.sg