Abstract
The Thai government has established policies on food safety and food security in order to increase global awareness of these issues. A food-safety policy was declared in 2004, primarily to promote Thailand as the “kitchen of the world,” and a food-security policy was issued in 2008 to secure safe agricultural and food products. To achieve these goals, effective collaborations have been implemented among multiple organizations as networks in Thailand, including government agencies and the primary-production, food-manufacturing, food-supply and consumer sectors. Research and development (R&D) is one effective way to manage food-safety and food-security problems. The main topics of food safety research in Thailand are innovative preventive measures and rapid detection methods for agents in the food chain that cause food-borne illnesses. R&D on food security has focused on sustainable development based on the so-called “sufficiency economy”, and has focused on a combination of traditional and innovative biotechnology in all primary-production sectors. In conclusion, the success of R&D on food safety and food security in Thailand is dependent on many important factors, such as capacity-building, strengthening of joint collaboration among various sectors, and accessible communication with all related organization networks.
