BANGKOK, June 30 — The Thai Ministry of Public Health, together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) are cooperating in creating a food and agriculture industry network aiming to reform Thailand’s food safety policy regarding health, society, economy, and trade.
Some 40 participants including managers, scholars, experts, academics, from both the private and public sectors, as well as consumers involved in the food and nutrition industries attended the conference on the theme: ‘Evidence-based food safety decision making and policy development using multi criteria approaches. Thailand is the pilot country for lifting food standards in Asia.
The event was held at the Richmond Hotel, in Bangkok’s suburban Nonthaburi province earlier today.
In his opening speech, Permanent Secretary of Public Health Dr Songyot Chaichana said FAO has given full support to the process of food security and safety around the globe, staring from the beginning to production, sales, all the way to marketing and consumption.
With such focuses, the FAO gives extra attention to food safety and quality, prompting it to make sure that every country sets up policies to cater to proper food safety and quality standards.
FAO has funded the Ministry of Public Health to host the national-level conference, in order for the country to stipulate better balanced food safety policies.
The policies would be decided based on the studies carried out in an all rounded aspect, including, health, economy, trade and society, through analyses of case studies which could link food safety with nutrition and food stability.
There will be three operational conferences on the subject from June to August this year, to summarise the direction of food policy reforms in Thailand before the country presents its findings to FAO headquarters in Rome for certifications.
The certified policies will be implemented later as a guideline within the Asian region.
