Safeguarding the food chain

Safeguarding the food chain

The spate of food scares this year has given Thai consumers understandable cause for concern. They range from world-famous Swedish meatballs that were found to contain horsemeat instead of beef to contaminants introduced by the excessive recycling of cooking oil and the overuse of pesticides and other toxic chemicals. The number of food poisoning cases also rang alarm bells at the Ministry of Public Health, which is nervously watching the deadly spread of separate strains of bird flu in China and Cambodia.

Action was unusually swift. Public health professionals will now join hands with the Ministry of Education in a two-year project to improve the safety of food served to schoolchildren. The urgency is due to research that showed more than a million cases of food poisoning and diarrhoea occurring last year and a similar number in 2011. Emphasis will be placed on the use of quality ingredients in the preparation of food at schools and childcare centres and closer monitoring of outbreaks.

The initial goal is a 30% reduction in cases. The move is timely because the present high temperatures, drought in the Northeast and severe storms in the South can lead to disruptions in supply and a seasonal rise in gastroenteritis due to food spoilage. Projects such as these may begin with schoolchildren but should not end with them. The biggest problem is that contamination can occur before the food even reaches the market, vendor or school. Fruit and vegetables can be laced with insecticides, meat contaminated by antibiotics given to livestock, and seafood by heavy metals.

Adult consumers are sensibly health-conscious these days and expect high standards of cleanliness and hygiene to be maintained. That means more than the regular hounding of unauthorised food vendors by city law enforcement officers who target those selling goods at bus stops, pedestrian overpasses and BTS stations, yet fail to provide alternative locations where they can register to do business without cluttering up pavements.

Food vendors often get the blame for cases of food poisoning. That is unfair because many go out of their way to practise cleanliness as best they can and they rely on repeat customers. Unfortunately there are others who do not practise proper hygiene or sanitation and while the sight of plastic plates being washed in dirty water and vegetables, meat, fish and sauces being left lying in the hot sun all day, exposed to traffic fumes, flies and sniffing dogs may not upset regular customers, it is unlikely to entice new ones. Although their nuisance factor is high, Bangkok would lose its unique character if the threat to clear them from the streets is ever carried out. The solution lies in proper zoning close to, but not blocking, major walkways. They perform a useful public service and keep inflation in check.

But that could change now they have caught the attention of the taxman. Amid all the talk of broadening the tax base has come a suggestion from a Finance Ministry official that food vendors and taxi drivers be required to charge value added tax to help make up the revenue shortfall caused by reductions in corporate tax. Even if the logistics were easily manageable - and taxis do have meters - this would fuel the inflationary spiral. It was noticeable that when many vendors returned to their home provinces for Songkran, prices jumped at those food stalls still open. While widening the tax base is a good idea, it would make more sense to tax the holders of vast swathes of unused and therefore unproductive land, rather than hit such small businesses. It would certainly be easier to enforce.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (5)