Introduction
Historical Background
In the past, the Food and Drug Checkpoints Subdivision is under the Inspection Division and responsible for the whole range of inspections: inspection at the facilities of manufacturers, importers, and sellers – both in Bangkok and upcountry. Currently, with the notion of “one-stop service”, each product control division has its own inspectors. Consequently, a great number of officers of the Inspection Division were transferred elsewhere, for example, to the Food Control Division and the Drug Control Division. And the tasks of the Inspection Division have been reduced to only those involving the import control at the checkpoints. As a result, the name of the division was recently changed to Import and Export Inspection Division
Current Food and Drug Checkpoints
To successfully handle the tasks at the food and drug checkpoints, the officials' fundamental academic knowledge is important. Most officers are pharmacists and some others are scientists who graduated with a bachelor's degree in food science.
Currently, there are 10 Food and Drug Checkpoints nationwide as follows:
- Bangkok Air Cargo Food and Drug Checkpoint;
- Inbound-Passengers 1 Food and Drug Checkpoint;
- Inbound-Passengers 2 Food and Drug Checkpoint;
- Port Authority of Thailand Food and Drug Checkpoint;
- Customs Department Food and Drug Checkpoint;
- Bangkok Mail Centre Food and Drug Checkpoint;
- Lat Krabang Food and Drug Checkpoint;
- Cement Thai Food and Drug Checkpoint, Samut Prakan Province ;
- Padang Bezar Food and Drug Checkpoint, Songkhla Province ; and
- Laem Chabang Food and Drug Checkpoint, Chon Buri Province .
Coordination with Other Agencies
Without good working relationship among relevant agencies, effective import control cannot be achieved. There are many people involved in the process – officials from other divisions of the Thai FDA, the Medical Sciences Department, the Customs Department, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, etc. In addition, inputs from private companies are helpful in enhancing the efficiency of the work process at the checkpoints. One of the things to keep in mind is that “procedures taken at the checkpoints should not be too lengthy and burdensome to decent importers”





