Clear and legible: Thailand announces new pre-packaged food labelling regulations mandating clarity and manufacturer responsibility
The Thai FDA first announced it would be revamping the regulations for pre-packaged food labels back in September 2023, with an emphasis on expiry dates and allergen warnings.
This move is in line with multiple other Asian countries such as Vietnam, China and South Korea which have all made amendments to their pre-packaged food labelling standards in the past year.
“These regulations will apply to all foods and beverages that are packaged for sale to consumers, with only four potential exemptions,” the agency said via formal documentation.
“The first is fresh food that has not undergone any form of processing; the second is fresh food that has been processed to reduce the size (e.g. peeling, trimming, etc.) and is packaged in transparent containers where the condition of the food is clearly visible.
“The third is food in containers produced and sold strictly for foodservice use; and the last is food that is sold directly to consumers via a platform where information is directly communicated to the consumers, such as e-commerce platforms (e.g. Facebook, LINE).
“All other food and beverage products which are pre-packaged and processed, and sold via retail at supermarkets, convenience stores and so on must comply.”
A major adjustment that has been made is mandating food manufacturers to attach their own information on the product labels, which in turn implies a heightened level of responsibility on the part of these firms to maintain food safety standards.
“The new regulations have been adjusted to clearly communicate to consumers who is responsible for the final step of production, whether this is the manufacturer, repacker or other parties,” said Thai FDA.
“Compulsory information includes the name of the manufacturer or repacker, the location of the head office in question, details of the relevant importer and origins of the product manufacturer and so on.
“Ingredient lists are now also required to display ingredients from most to least on the label, so as to ensure consumers receive complete, correct and clear information that will not cause any confusion about the main components of the product.
“Although displaying a list of ingredients without this sequencing does not necessarily mean that the manufacturer intends to mislead consumers, but if the intent is to highlight any particular ingredient, the firm can always display this in a prominent manner on the front of the label.
“This is in accordance with the Codex Alimentarius which requires all ingredients to be displayed in order, and the new regulations further require these to be listed according to percentages by weight.”
Allergen alerts
The regulations for allergen and expiry date have also been updated for clarity, with strict phrasing now required to highlight allergen content.
“For any allergen XYZ, the product label must state ‘There are XYZ’ if a potential allergenic ingredient is being used; or ‘Information for food allergy sufferers: This product may contain XYZ’ in the case of potential contamination during the production process,” said the agency.
“The text ‘Information for food allergy sufferers’ can be replaced with other text of a similar meaning but must always be displayed in a clearly visible and easily legible location on the packaging.
“All product production and/or expiration dates must also be displayed in compliance according to the specific food item in question and located [clearly on the label].
“In the case that the entire messaging of ‘consume before’ or ‘expired’ or ‘manufactured on’ cannot be printed on a suitable location with the date/month/year or month/year specified clearly, there must be an additional message on the label that clearly communicates where to look to find this information.”
