Senate Backs National Push for Safe Food Standards
Thailand's Senate and health organizations have launched the Safe Food Journey forum to strengthen food safety standards across the entire supply chain, from production to consumer. The initiative will use citizen monitoring systems and rap
Food is a basic necessity that everyone consumes daily, yet food safety does not begin at the plate. Rather, it spans the entire journey from production, raw materials, cultivation, import, transport, storage, and preparation all the way to the consumer's hand. Safe food must also be paired with nutritious food.
In response to this challenge, the Safe Food Journey forum was established, bringing together the Senate's Political Development and Public Participation Committee, Human Rights and Freedoms Commission, the Consumer Protection Sub-Committee, the Consumer Organizations Council, the Health Promotion Foundation, the Bios Foundation, Bangkok, the Food and Drug Administration, the Agricultural Industry Board, Kasetsart University, and Thai PBS to unite all sectors in raising food safety standards across the supply chain.
Dr. Pairojn Saonuam, deputy manager of the Health Promotion Foundation, stated that four key mechanisms are essential to advancing food safety: reliable data and research systems, public participation in monitoring, rapid data connectivity for management action, and communications to help people stay informed. "In the digital age, when health and food information spreads rapidly, citizens should verify information from credible sources before sharing. Meanwhile, government agencies and media have a responsibility to fact-check and counter false information and AI-generated or manipulated content."
According to the seventh Thai national health survey conducted in 2567-2568, working-age adults showed obesity at 45%, high blood pressure at 29.5%, and diabetes at 10.6%. Thai people aged 15 and older consume an average of only 373.69 grams of vegetables and fruit per day, with just 36.5% reaching the recommended 400 grams, while sodium intake averages a high 3,650 milligrams daily—well above the recommended maximum of 2,000 milligrams.
Prakchol U-Tharp, director of the Bios Foundation, stated that the Health Promotion Foundation and its network partners are advancing a participatory food safety monitoring system with pilot areas in Nakhon Sawan, Maha Sarakham, and Yasothon. They are also developing a Citizen Science curriculum—"food detectives"—to enable the public to systematically monitor and communicate food safety risks. Additionally, they are developing the Thai Rapid Alert System for Food Safety, or Thai-RASFS, to connect local-level data with relevant agencies.
The Safe Food Journey forum aims to build cooperation across all sectors to transform food safety from point regulation into a national system, making safe and healthy food an easy choice for people in their daily lives.
