NSTDA along with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA Thailand), Office of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion and Central Laboratory (Thailand) Co., Ltd. recently organized Primary GMP Day 2018 on 20 August 2018 at Central Plaza Chaengwattana. The consortium of four organizations has been implementing a capacity building program on primary GMP in the food SMEs.
In 2012, primary GMP standards was introduced by FDA Thailand as new requirements for other processed food in instant package ready to be sold to consumers. The primary GMP standards came into effect in 2015. To enhance the capacity of SMEs to meet these standards and continue to grow their business, the afore-mentioned organizations joined hands to implement the capacity building program on primary GMP with the focus on SMEs.
“NSTDA is pleased to be part of this important program. Our role is to assist SMEs already attained primary GMP standards to move up the value chain with science, technology and innovation. We have helped 54 SMEs in 50 provinces to develop innovative and unique community products with added value. We also supported the development of 22 experts in food product development who will be instrumental in assist more SMEs with product development in the future,” said Dr. Thitapha Smitinont, NSTDA Executive Vice President, who represented NSTDA in this event.
This program was implemented by the Innovation Technology Assistance Program (ITAP) of NSTDA. ITAP provides technological assistance to Thai SMEs through the provision of experts to study the problems and partial funding to implement the solutions as identified by experts. Over 1,800 SMEs have been recipients to ITAP, with over 8,000 projects carried out.
