Thai FDA finds 1,171 illegal imports at 80 stores in 17 provinces
The products, primarily food and cosmetics, were seized and businesses were warned about penalties for non-compliance with regulations
The Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Monday that 1,171 illegally imported health products were discovered in 80 stores across 17 provinces. The findings were part of a nationwide survey of 470 stores, 17.02% of which were found to be in violation.
“Of the illegal products, 1,151 were food items and 20 were cosmetics,” said Weerachai Nolwachai, FDA deputy secretary-general, adding that the items had been seized by provincial public health offices.
He said to avoid such problems from recurring, entrepreneurs should only import products that meet Thai laws to ensure consumers’ safety. He warned that businesses selling food products without labels in the Thai language can face fines of up to 30,000 baht. Similarly, selling unregistered cosmetics can result in fines of up to 20,000 baht. Sellers of cosmetics lacking labels in Thai may incur fines of up to 10,000 and/or a prison term of up to one month.
Weerachai also encouraged consumers to check product labels carefully, adding that food labels should have details like the name and address of manufacturers, manufacturing and best-before date, ingredients, net weight, nutritional facts and the Thai FDA logo.
Cosmetics labels should display the product name, type, ingredients, instructions, name and address of manufacturers and importers, net quantity, manufacturing date and any warnings.
Consumers who encounter illegal products can report them to Provincial Public Health Offices nationwide, call the FDA hotline 1556 or email [email protected], or visit the FDAthai Line account or FDA Thai Facebook page.
