Sunrise on the reaping

For the food safety researcher, 46, a deadly outbreak of listeria in 2018, linked to contaminated rockmelons in Australia, was not just a health crisis but a call to action. Through years of dedicated data collection and collaboration with farmers, he paved the way for sweeping reforms. His efforts have now been recognised with the 2025 Food Safety Award

- Dipanjan Sinha

"I always say: if it's not safe, it's not food," explains Sukhvinder Pal Singh, who has spent 20 years of his life finding ways to make food safer and last longer. Singh, director of Australia's Central Coast Primary Industries Centre, has won the 2025 Food Safety Award from the country's Institute of Food Science and Technology for his contribution in reducing food risks and building trust in fresh produce.

“People often do not think much about food safety in everyday life,” he says and points out how simple steps like washing hands before eating, keeping raw meat away from fruits and vegetables, storing food in the refrigerator, and cooking it well are more important than we realise.

“Fruits and vegetables are key parts of our daily meals. But they can also carry risks, such as small objects, chemicals, or germs like salmonella, listeria, and escherichia coli (E coli). These risks can make people sick and even cause death,” the 46-year-old food safety researcher says.

Singh’s method uses facts from studies to check practices, find problems and create fixes. His project on melons demonstrates this approach. Rockmelons, called muskmelons in India or cantaloupes in the US, can easily pick up dirt from the soil. They are grown near the ground, and people eat them raw. “These fruits can cause health problems because of how they grow and how we eat them,” Singh says.

Australia’s last foodborne health crisis was in 2018, when listeria in rockmelons made 22 people sick and killed seven across states such as New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania. It also affected people in Singapore who had sourced the same fruits.