Thailand reviews its plastic food-container standard — technical submissions close 31 December

Nothing has changed yet — data is being collected before it does

On 16 September 2026 the Thai FDA announced that it is reviewing Ministry of Public Health Notification No. 435, B.E. 2565 (2022), issued under the Food Act B.E. 2522, which sets the quality and standard of containers made from plastic.

The FDA is not asking only for opinions. The notice asks for information, comments and suggestions so that the standard is appropriate and workable for operators on the basis of scientific fact and of how these materials are actually manufactured and used. In other words, it wants test data and field evidence. The window runs until 31 December 2026, and the notice links a response form and a document explaining the direction of the review.

This notice does not change any test requirement and creates no new obligation. There is no amending notification number and no effective date.

Why it pays to file something now

Standards for food-contact plastics tie resin-by-resin migration limits to specific test methods, and once fixed they govern for years. Test data submitted during the review is the raw material from which those limits and methods are set. If the resin grades, additives or real use conditions — fill temperature, contact time, food type — behind your products sit outside the assumptions in the current notification, this is the moment to put that on the record.

The converse is the risk. If a company files nothing, the draft will be built from whatever data other parties did file. For packaging with meaningful volume in Thailand, that gap tends to come back later as retesting cost.

What to assemble

• Group the items you ship to Thailand by resin type and grade, with the additive list for each product family.
• Write down the actual conditions of use — filling temperature, sterilisation method, the food types and fat content in contact, and shelf life.
• Check which standard and method your existing migration test reports were issued against. A report to Notification 435 and a report to a home-market standard carry different weight here.
• Where a current requirement has been difficult to meet in practice, gather the reason and any alternative evidence alongside it.

What is not established

The amending notification that comes out of this review has no number, no effective date and no transitional provision yet. Which materials and which test parameters will actually be revised is not stated in this notice either. Item-level judgement needs the linked review-guidance document.

One thing is certain at this point: the date. 31 December 2026.