(26/04/2012)
The Ministry of Public Health is accelerating the implementation of its food safety policy, in response to the Government’s “Kitchen of the World” project.
Deputy Public Health Minister Surawit Khonsomboon told public health administrators in all 77 provinces to focus on food safety to promote good health among the people and cope with gastroenteritis-related diseases.
In his meeting with 800 public health administrators and officials on 23 April 2012, Mr. Surawit gave a briefing on the food safety policy to make Thailand a model for food safety standards in the ASEAN region.
He revealed that each year more than one million people in the country suffered from unhygienic food and water. Statistics, compiled by the Ministry of Public Health in 2011, show that 1.4 million people in Thailand suffered from diarrhea, about 100,000 from food poisoning, 14,000 from dysentery, and 279 from cholera.
In implementing the food safety policy, he said, emphasis would be placed on hygienic and sanitary conditions throughout the food chain under the “From Farm to Table” concept. The food chain is involved with all steps, ranging from production to transportation, processing, and distribution to consumers.
Mr. Surawit said that the policy would be carried out not only in various hospitals, schools, and restaurants, but also in fresh and wholesale markets and vending stalls. In this connection, health officials will inspect these places and ensure that they are in line with safety standards. Water, ice, meat, fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, and other food items will be subject to quality control. Certificates will be issued for food outlets that have passed the food safety standards set by the Ministry of Public Health.
According to the Deputy Public Health Minister, the Government has set a target to increase the number of restaurants with food safety standards by 5 percent a year. In taking care of patients in various hospitals under its supervision, the Ministry of Public Health has prepared health food as a way for people to turn to a healthy lifestyle.
As for 56 hospitals with mostly Muslim patients, the Ministry is in the process of developing their kitchens as halal kitchens to offer Muslim food. Two hospitals, namely Yala Hospital and Satun Hospital in the deep South, have so far passed the HAL-Q system. HAL-Q was introduced by Chulalongkorn University’s Halal Science Center to ensure safety and quality in halal food production.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry, in its 2012 “Kitchen of the World” project, focuses on quality and safety of Thai food by giving a major boost to research work on nutritional value, so that Thai cuisine would gain greater recognition at the international level.
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