Dr Thanit made the announcement as at a press conference held at the Khun Mae Ju store in Thalang yesterday (Sept 11).
The press conference was held in the wake of consumer groups voicing their concerns after conducting tests of their own on products sold at the store.
The tests allegedly found that curry pastes sold at the store contained illegally excessive amounts of sorbic acid. (See story here.)
“We sent some samples to be examined at the Regional Medical Sciences Center 1 in Chiang Mai, and the results showed that no preservatives were found in the products,” Dr Thanit said.
“The factory of the Khun Mae Ju store has been open for years, and Phuket Provincial Public Health officers come to inspect it every three years to ensure the quality of their production process. So far, the factory has passed the quality inspection every year with the score 96.74,” he added.
Wirawan Tiuwpredit of the Khun Mae Ju store, which is very popular with Thai tourists, told the press that production methods at the store’s production facility were upgraded to “high-tech” in 2006.
“All products pass through the process of sterilisation, in accordance with Ministry of Public Health regulations and certification according to ISO 9001: 2000,” she said.
“After the Foundation for Consumers said they had found excessive preservatives in our curry paste products, it obviously decreased our sales, especially the products sold through our online store,” Ms Wirawan said.
“We confidently confirm that there are no preservatives in our curry paste products. We have already reported the results of the (health office) tests to the foundation and want them to publicly announce the right information about our products,” she added.
“We confirm that our products pass Ministry of Public Health standards. The foundation will hold a press conference to apologise for revealing wrong information and reconfirm that our products have no preservatives,” she said.