IN Brief:
- Thailand’s FDA is consulting on a rewrite of food container rules that broadens coverage beyond ceramics and enamelware.
- The draft would bring metals, glass, and paper and board into a more material-specific framework tied to Thai Industrial Standards.
- Migration controls for heavy metals, bisphenols, epoxy derivatives, and PFAS would tighten, with transition periods running from two to five years.
Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration is proposing a broad overhaul of its food contact material rules, widening the framework from its older ceramics-focused structure to include metals, glass, and paper and board. The consultation covers amendments to the country’s long-running food container rules under Ministry of Public Health Announcement No. 92.
A notable feature of the draft is the way it is structured. Instead of embedding every migration limit directly in the regulatory text, the proposal leans more heavily on Thai Industrial Standards, allowing future revisions to be handled through standards updates rather than repeated rewrites of the main notification. Separate announcements would also be issued by material type, which should make future changes more targeted.
For ceramics, the draft updates product definitions and safety provisions while requiring compliance with Thai standards aligned to existing lead and cadmium migration controls, with a two-year transition period. Metals would come under a new dedicated section covering tinplate, chromium-coated steel, aluminium, aluminium foil, and lacquered cans, with specific release limits for a range of metal ions. The proposal also tightens controls on can-coating chemistries, including a non-detect requirement for BPA, migration limits for BADGE compounds, and a ban on BFDGE and NOGE.
Glass would also be regulated through a dedicated section, with lead and cadmium migration limits aligned to Thai and Japanese standards, plus a new alkalinity parameter. Paper and board would be brought formally into scope, covering coated, laminated, baking, cooking, and hot-filter papers. The consultation runs until 31 March 2026, and for packaging suppliers and food businesses selling into Thailand it points to a broader, more structured compliance framework.
