Culinary enthusiasts will find it harder to enjoy naem nueang on board of airplanes, as they will soon be required to put the salad along with the rest of their checked-in luggage, according to the Department of Airports.
The department decided to include the salad including a well-known sweet-and-sour naem nueang dipping sauce in their list of banned liquids, in a new regulation that is due to take effect on June 23.
The regulation was issued to ensure airport officials' compliance with the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand's (CAAT) 2019 notice about the inspection and screening of liquid, gels, and aerosols that are banned from an aircraft's cabin and certain restricted zones in airports, said the department's director-general, Amphawan Wannako.
"Each package of naem nueang contains up to 400 millilitres of sauce, which exceeds the quantity of liquid allowed in the aircraft cabin, which is limited to 100ml," she said.
Naem nueang is popular among passengers from northeastern provinces such as Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani and Khon Kaen, where it is even sold at specialised shops at several airports in the region, due to demand for the dish.