In January 2022, the incident appeared in the newspapers and social media that students in several provinces were hospitalized after consuming sausages, the food testing results conducted by Ramathibodi Poison Center showed that 14 students in 8 provinces, including Chiang Mai, Phetchaburi, Saraburi, Trang, Phayao, Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Kanchanaburi, suffered from Methemoglobinemia.
On 28 January 2022, “Ramathibodi Poison Center” created a post on its Facebook page to warn parents of unsafe foods, namely unbranded sausages from unknown production source. The post identified that, in the past week, all pediatric patients were diagnosed with Methemoglobinemia, a blood disorder caused by elevated levels of a form of Hemoglobin, after consuming unbranded sausages that had unclear labels. According to the aforementioned incident, Consumer Protection Police Division (CPPD), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Provincial Public Health Offices jointly arrested the illicit producers in Chon Buri province and inspected the processed food factory. The examination revealed that such factory did not meet Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, had no FDA registration number, and did not have any quality assurance in food industry.
The processed meat products with poor quality in manufacturing is one of the major problems reflecting the State agencies’ failure to systematically and effectively conduct inspections. Importantly, the manufacturer’s negligence to follow food safety caused direct harm to consumers’ health. Therefore, cross-sector collaboration is essential to tackle such problem.
Pursuant to section 230 (3) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, B.E. 2560 (2017), the Ombudsmen have duties and powers to submit reports with recommendations to the Council of Ministers for acknowledgement that the State agency has not yet correctly and completely complied with Chapter 5, Duties of the State. Section 61 of the Constitution stipulates that the State shall provide efficient measures or mechanisms to protect and safeguard the rights of consumers in various aspects, which include knowledge of true information, safety, fair conclusion of contracts, or any other aspects, which benefit consumers. Consequently, with the aim of ensuring consumer protection and enhancing effectiveness of post-marketing monitoring relating to the processed meat products, the Ombudsmen exercised their powers, by virtue of section 230 (3) and section 61 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, B.E. 2560 (2017) in conjunction with section 22 (3) and section 35 of the Organic Act on Ombudsmen, B.E. 2560 (2017), to conduct a fact-finding and prepare a report with recommendations to submit to the Council of Ministers for acknowledgement.
The Office of the Ombudsman convened a series of three meetings with Office of the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Public Health, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Medical Sciences, Bureau of Food Safety Extension and Support of Ministry of Public Health, Office of the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards, Department of Livestock Development, Department of Local Administration, Consumer Protection Police Division, Office of the Consumer Protection Board, Thailand Consumers Council, and Foundation for Consumer to furnish the agencies with information regarding operational plan as well as problems and challenges arisen from the implementation of consumer protection measures. Additional information was collected from various sources, encompassing documents, academic articles, researches, websites and media, both domestically and internationally. This information has been used to support the Ombudsmen’s consideration in drafting a fact-finding report with recommendations for submission to the Council of Ministers.
With the intention to strictly and effectively monitor the production process and ensure consumer protection, the Ombudsmen have considered that it is crucial to have preventive and control measures throughout the food production process. This includes rigorous food quality control, monitoring and traceability systems. In addition, clearly defined roles and responsibilities of the State agencies are essential in ensuring food safety compliance. The Ombudsman’s fact-finding has revealed the major problems that require immediate attention as follows:
- Since the Foods Act, B.E. 2522 (1979) has been in force for more than 43 years, the Act requires revision in order to ensure that food safety measures align with contemporary circumstances, where technological advancements in food production and advertising necessitate the provision of food that meets international food quality and safety standards. The proposal for the amendment to the Act was introduced in 2018, but the proposed amendment of the aforesaid act remains under consideration of the Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on the amendment to the Foods Act, B.E. 2522 (1979).
- The Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), which is an aspect of quality assurance for ensuring food safety and quality in food production, is not strictly enforced.
- Despite the fact that food safety measures on processed meat products including traceability, product recall, and rapid alert systems have been adopted, there is a lack of concrete operational guidelines for the designated agencies to collaborate effectively. Furthermore, the absence of integrated cooperation among relevant agencies hinders the full implementation of these measures in protecting consumers.
- There is an absence of a system that facilitates data sharing, particularly consumers’ complaints information, between relevant agencies
- The manufacturers failed to comply with food safety regulations and the campaigns for building consumers’ knowledge and awareness on food safety in order to be ‘Smart Consumers’ have not been continuously carried out.
Thereby, the Ombudsmen exercised their powers by virtue of section 230 (3) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, B.E. 2560 (2017) in conjunction with section 22 (3) and section 35 of the Organic Act on Ombudsmen, B.E. 2560 (2017) to submit a fact-finding report along with recommendations to the Council of Ministers in the case where State agencies have not yet correctly and completely complied with Chapter 5, Duties of the State, of the Constitution, on the subject of “Consumer protection regarding processed meat products and development of a post-marketing monitoring system”. The Ombudsmen’s recommendations are as follows:
- The Parliament should expedite the consideration of the amendment to the Foods Act, B.E. 2522 (1979). Since the aforesaid law is outdated and not suited to current circumstances, food producers have no fear of legal consequences – in other words, they take undue advantage and bear no responsibility to the consumers. Hence, the amendment to the law will ensure that consumers are protected from food fraud, especially illegally produced processed meat products.
- The Ministry of Public Health should explore strategies to enhance Thailand’s food quality control system in in accordance with the GMP standards and the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health (Number 420) of B.E. 2563. The relevant State agencies should strengthen food control systems by implementing global GMP standards and the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system. In addition, they should develop a plan to support small-sized enterprises in upgrading their food safety standards; and establish a reasonable timeframe for small businesses to comply with the required standards.
- The government should notify the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Public Health to expedite the comprehensive implementation of traceability, product recall and rapid alert systems that enable manufacturers to correctly and promptly remove unsafe food products from the market in the event of food safety emergencies. In addition, technological advancements can be applied to enhance the effectiveness of such mechanisms and to further streamline the work processes.
- The government should consider allocating sufficient budget and personnel to the relevant State agencies to proactively implement consumer protection measures.
- The Ministry of Public Health and relevant State agencies should establish a system for receiving, managing and transmitting consumers’ complaints information to relevant agencies. This system should include a designated focal agency for disseminating timely notifications and warnings to consumers. In addition, a data center should be established to store data and link public sector and people’s network to ensure efficient data transmission. Furthermore, networks with all sectors should be built to monitor the situation and share relevant information regarding unsafe food products and adverse effects that arise.
- The government should initiate campaigns to build food producers’ awareness of food safety as well as provide consumers with the knowledge they need to protect their rights and make informed choices as ‘Smart Consumers’.
