Thai Aquaculture: Achieving Quality and Safety through Management and Sustainability

Thailand designated the year 2004 as Safety Year. Responsible government sectors of food and agricultural commodities cooperatively initiated and strengthened their respective food safety control programs. Although the Food Safety Year is over, the concept is adopted as the national policy and the activities continue. Good Aquaculture Practice (GAP) and Code of Conduct (CoC) for sustainable shrimp culture have been developed by the Department of Fisheries (DOF) in 1999, based on the guideline of Codex Alimentarius Commission. The standard schemes compliment the policy of the fishery sector in achieving the Farm-to-Table concept. Currently, there are approximately 18,000 shrimp/fish hatcheries and farms certified for GAP/CoC by the department. The National Residue Control Program (NRCP) has been established to overcome the problems on prohibited chemicals and veterinary drug residues used in aquaculture such as chloramphenicol and nitrofurans. The use of Movement Document (MD) is enforced from hatcheries and farms through processing plants to ensure the effective tracing back from finished products to the farm of origin. Fish processing plants registered and approved by DOF shall effectively implement Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) concept. DOF has successfully implemented a trial computerized traceability system called TraceShrimp. The complete traceability involved sharing information from feed mills through farming, suppliers, processing plants, and finished products. This paper will address the policies and attempts of the Thai government made to control quality and safety of aquaculture products from Pond-to-Plate, through effective management system and sustainability.