Food safety assurance system for fresh produce production in Thailand: a review

In 2004, the Thai government enacted a food safety policy, 'from-farm-to-table', to ensure food safety throughout the food chain. Several food safety assurance systems such as good agricultural practices (GAP) are employed to control and monitor food safety. Nevertheless, a lack of confidence in food safety of products in the domestic market still exists. This study aimed to describe and analyse the current situation of GAP standards implemented in fresh produce production in Thailand. A mixed explorative and descriptive approach was used by reviewing literature and using multidimensional scaling to draw a subjective perceptual map of the relative position of the set of GAP standards adopted in Thailand. Food safety law and regulations were discussed with a comparative analysis of the three kinds of GAP standards applied in Thailand. The subjective perceptual map of the different GAP standards shows that the standards may be positioned with reference to two dimensions: 'trustworthiness' and 'usefulness for the business'. The problem of GAP implementation in Thailand is rooted in a lack of knowledge and understanding of principles and the perception of advantages of GAP adoption among stakeholders. The national GAP of Thailand, Q-GAP, is the most widely adopted standard. However, improvement of credibility of this standard is urgently required.