Thailand Consults Over Mandatory Standards for Certain Food Contact Products

SG 108/24

The WTO has circulated three draft ministerial regulations from Thailand on the nation’s intention to mandate the use of several standards for certain food contact materials and articles.

In June/July 2024, the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced three separate draft ministerial regulations from Thailand’s Ministry of Industry to mandate the use of specific Thai Industrial Standards (TIS) for certain food contact materials and articles.

These standards are:

• TIS 3206-25XX (20XX) ‘Stainless Steel Utensils for Food: Safety Requirements’, a standard detailing, among other things, safety and labeling requirements for food trays, forks, pans, pots, spatulas, spoons and tiffin carriers (this standard is voluntary for other types of food contact stainless steel product)
• TIS 1027-25XX (20XX) ‘Plastic Bags for Food’, a standard for food contact plastic bags made from polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP) materials with details of the fork-spoon-plate symbol indicating that food contact is safe and does not pose a health hazard (Annex C)
• TIS 3022-25XX (20XX) ‘Microwavable Food Plastic Bag for Reheating’, an industrial product standard for plastic bags containing food for heating in the microwave with details of the fork-spoon-plate symbol indicating that food contact is safe and does not pose a health hazard (Annex C)

Highlights of these three WTO documents are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

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