Asean Food News reports that Fresh vegetables from Thailand will be examined from now on to prevent contamination with micro organisms causing diarrhea before being exported to European Union members and Norway.
The move came after EU members and Norway suspended exports of some fresh vegetables from Thailand after finding contamination with E coli and Salmonella bacteria in past lots which have caused diarrheal infections.
The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has instructed the Agriculture Department to overhaul its agricultural produce standard control measures, including improving tests for the organisms from the beginning of the agricultural production process to ensure that the vegetable produce is safe.
The Department will first register farms producing vegetables for export so that it can locate the origins of the produce, and then check for the organisms in advance because the process can take up to seven days.
Those farms would also be listed under the food safety programme, under which they would be required to produce vegetables in line with the department’s instructions on good agricultural practice.