Contaminated Food A Problem In Thailand

Contaminated food a problem in Thailand:

More than one million Thais every year suffer from diseases caused by contaminated food.

The Thai government last year declared 2004 as the Year of Food Safety in a bid to campaign for food safety in the kingdom with a population of more than 60 million, Xinhua reportd quoting a newspaper report here Monday.

Related government agencies and officials were required to keep a close watch on safety of fresh food.

As a result, fresh food safety had increased from 67 percent in March 2003 to 98 percent in March this year, Deputy Public Health Minister Anuthin Chaanveerakul was quoted by The Nation as saying.

Meanwhile, about 74 percent of food-processing factories in the country passed the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standard for food production.

The public health ministry in June declared results of a survey of 10,000 food samples, which showed that 92 percent were uncontaminated but the rest eight percent could pose a danger to consumers.

Food and water-borne diseases kill more than three people a minute or about two million a year around the world, according to a World Health Organisation report.

--Indo-Asian News Service 2004-08-10