What 'Western' Consumer Goods Would You Like Manufactured And Sold In Thailand?

[invogue]

In the past I have found Thai manufacturers to be extremely keen to do custom formulations and work on new product development according to client’s needs. Try approaching a medium size company in Australia or America to work on a new product formulation and you can’t even get past the front desk.

I don’t understand why more farangs haven’t tried to manufacture Western style products in Thailand.

Importing to Thailand seems to be a logistical nightmare. Strangely export and Thailands trade agreement with other countries is very open and easy.

If you could have your favourite ‘Western’ products manufactured and sold here in Thailand, what would they be exactly?

I would like-

• A decent, non-beany tasting soy milk enriched with calcium but no added sugar
  
• Almond milk with good mouth-feel (not like water consistency) and no sugar
  

What is yours?

[Ricardo]

Low-sugar/no-sugar soft-drinks, like the short-lived Sprite-Zero, also some new flavours like Dr-Pepper regular/vanilla ?

[WinnieTheKhwai]

> A decent, non-beany tasting soy milk enriched with calcium but no added sugar

Any market or food stall area? You can ask not to add sugar.

Edited February 19, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[Thaddeus]

Lard and shredded beef suet.

[PattayaParent]

English beer.

[LennyW]

English beer.

That comes out of most household taps - it's called water!!

[invogue]

> A decent, non-beany tasting soy milk enriched with calcium but no added sugar

Any market or food stall area? You can ask not to add sugar.

In my opinion it has the most unpleasant beany taste imaginable- basically because it is extracted directly from the soy beans. It’s a far cry from Silk soy milk. The street market milk certainly isn’t enriched with calcium either.

[F1fanatic]

Electrical products (not to mention the system itself!) that we can trust.

I'm fed up with having to wear rubber flip flops whenever I touch electrical appliances and the 'sound systems' for the TV and stereo seem to pack up after about 3 years or so.

[invogue]

Low-sugar/no-sugar soft-drinks, like the short-lived Sprite-Zero, also some new flavours like Dr-Pepper regular/vanilla ?

I don’t understand why pepsi max and diet coke are the only sugar-free soft drinks available. Diet soda is the easiest product to manufacture: carbonated water, sweetener, flavour, optional colour. I’m sure diet durian drink would be very popular!

[PattayaParent]

English beer.

That comes out of most household taps - it's called water!!

I mean the real ale in the cask stuff, I'd even drink some Belhaven 80 bob at a push!!

[Sing_Sling]

Nothing . . . I like my consumer goods to:

a) work

follow international norms and regulations

c) not be poisonous

[garrya]

cheese for sure, sweetener, without aspartame

[ARISTIDE]

I'm willin to pay good money for the following impossible to find items:

Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

A box of Twinkie

Sugar free pancake syrub

Sugar free HERSHEY'S Chocolate Products

Just to name a few...

[Sing_Sling]

I received the news recently that Twinkies will not be available anymore . . . RiP

[melvinmelvin]

proper wooden toothpicks (ie not the circular/cylindrical crap)

[farang000999]

lots of fans of fake sugar chemicals i see. yikes!

[invogue]

cheese for sure, sweetener, without aspartame

when you say sweetener, without aspartame do you mean something like sucralose/splenda

[garrya]

cheese for sure, sweetener, without aspartame

when you say sweetener, without aspartame do you mean something like sucralose/splenda

containing aspartame

I am quite a sweet toothed person, and try to control my weight by not using sugar too much. So I used to opt for the sweeteners not containing aspartame. I think I used the "splendid" brand, not too sure.

I am not a fan of any chemicals but try to control the intake of sugar particularly the palm sugar

[invogue]

cheese for sure, sweetener, without aspartame

when you say sweetener, without aspartame do you mean something like sucralose/splenda

containing aspartame

I am quite a sweet toothed person, and try to control my weight by not using sugar too much. So I used to opt for the sweeteners not containing aspartame. I think I used the "splendid" brand, not too sure.

I am not a fan of any chemicals but try to control the intake of sugar particularly the palm sugar

I think you mean 'splenda', not splendid. Its available quite cheaply in Thailand through B2B. Please PM me if you are interested in more info.

[invogue]

I discovered a while ago that ‘developing nations’ have a very unlikely chance of producing diet/sugar-free products when a portion of the population is struggling to get enough sustenance.

In addition Thai style products have on average a 5% higher sugar content when compared to similar products overseas.

In contrast, the west, particularly the USA is saturated with low fat, sugar-free, low carb options to combat the growing obesity epidemic.

It’s a shame for all the expats who come here who don’t want to put such a large amount of sugar into their system.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

fyi, I managed to find a company out toward the BangNa area that sells minimum 5 Kg bags of Xylitol quite cheaply... Xylitol isn't good as a sweetener for baking, but it's supposed to be good for adding to drinks.

If anyone needs a referral on that, just PM me.

[DocN]

YOGHURT! A decent range of it and not the substitute they sell here, tasting like pure chemicals!

[saengsureeya]

YOGHURT! A decent range of it and not the substitute they sell here, tasting like pure chemicals!

There is yoghurt for sale. It's being sold in white cups of 1/8 ltr and 0.5 ltr with a blue print on it. Absolutely sugarfree and tastes perfect. Carrefour used to have them and Tesco at times.

Didn't see them for some time now.

Forgot the brand.

[trainman34014]

Lard and shredded beef suet.

+1

[trainman34014]

Golden Syrup. I can't make a treacle pud' like Mum used to without it.

[bunta71]

Reading these posts about sugar and toxic sugar substitutes shows a general lack of information about both. Look into Stevia. Used in many places around the world. It actually reverses some tooth decay. Has zero side effects unlike Splenda ( severe kidney damage) Aspartame and all the others. Stevia is not allowed to be marketed as a sweetener in America in order to protect the sugar and chemical industries. Japan uses stevia as their first line of choice. If you study this subject for 30 minutes, you will help your health tremendously....

[garrya]

Reading these posts about sugar and toxic sugar substitutes shows a general lack of information about both. Look into Stevia. Used in many places around the world. It actually reverses some tooth decay. Has zero side effects unlike Splenda ( severe kidney damage) Aspartame and all the others. Stevia is not allowed to be marketed as a sweetener in America in order to protect the sugar and chemical industries. Japan uses stevia as their first line of choice. If you study this subject for 30 minutes, you will help your health tremendously....

I am not sure this is because of the lack of information, but the available products in certain countries. I would definitely use Stevia, as I used to do, but no available stock. I would like to add that it is sweet but on the other hand it`s sweetness falls far behind any products of the sweetener or sugar industry so had to take more with my beloved tea.

Edited February 20, 2012 by garrya

[bunta71]

I agree with that... it takes getting used to. I buy my stevia around LOS all the time. In Chiang Mai in the large chinese market, you can buy it in bulk. Villa Market stocks it.

[F1fanatic]

How lucky I am (apparently) to not have a 'sweet tooth'!

The only time I use sugar or sugar substitutes is when friends visit who enjoy it in their tea.

But I digress, it is the 'little' things I miss - decent wholemeal bread, milk etc. And yes, I know you can buy semi-skimmed milk here - but it just doesn't taste the same.

[garrya]

I agree with that... it takes getting used to. I buy my stevia around LOS all the time. In Chiang Mai in the large chinese market, you can buy it in bulk. Villa Market stocks it.

Sure, I am going to look around for some Stevia in the south, there are chinese stalls in the market.