Certification

The world market is becoming more demanding in terms of quality “standards”. People expect a new light bulb to fit into their lamp, their medicine to be genuine and their food to be safe. Behind all of these assurances we need standards. Standards are the written specifications that describe the basic quality elements of a product or service and often the conditions under which it is produced. While standards may be easy to determine and write down, we all know from experience that not every producer voluntarily agrees to follow them. It is quite common to find auto parts that are not genuine and food that has stayed on the shelf longer than is recommended by the standard. To deal with this problem we have a business service called “certification”. Certification is the process through which a standard is verified by an independent but qualified organization. We have standards for almost every product and certification bodies in the market place to verify all of these standards. In general standards are higher in higher value market places. To improve Thailand’s export potential the T-G PEC is working, particularly in the area of food safety standards, to ensure that Thai food products are firstly produced to internationally recognized standards and that these standards can be independently certified by internationally recognized bodies. This recognition then opens up new and higher value markets outside of Thailand.

The three areas that the T-G PEC is using certification to help Thai businesses access higher value markets are: fresh fruit and vegetables; EurepGAP shrimps and organic shrimps. The programme works with Thai standard-setting institutions like the Agricultural Commodity and Food Safety Bureau and the Department of Fisheries and with international certification bodies like EurepGAP and Naturland to create a sustainable, affordable and lasting business relationship between Thai exporters and producers and certification bodies that ensure consistent market access.