Workfield of the dietitian

In each country it is possible for the dietician to work in different professional roles, so this is also possible in Thailand.

A dietician can work as an entrepreneur, but this is not very common in Thailand. If a graduated dietician wants to work in the practitioner role, the highest goal to achieve is to become part of the Thai dietetic association. The president of the council is Sunard Taechangam and they have a clear vision and mission:

Vision

Achieving a healthy Thailand through excellence of dietetic practice

Mission

The Thai Dietetic Association

Maintaining standard and continue quality improvement of dietetic practices.
Being the centre of information regarding all aspects of nutrition and dietetics to fellow dieticians, healthcare professionals and general public.
Co-operating and networking with other national / international organizations in exchanging our knowledge and experiences in Nutrition and Dietetics to improve the wellbeing of our fellow man (History Mission Objectives).

There are several hospitals and association/foundation networks linked to the Thai dietetic association. The hospitals that are linked to the Thai dietetic association are:

Ramathibodi Hospital

Rajavithi Hospital

King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Nopparat Hospital

Praram 9 Hospital

Theptarin Hospital

Bumrungrad International Hospital

Association/Foundation Networks who are linked to the Thai dietetic association:

Nutrition Association of Thailand: NAT

Thai Association of Diabetes Educators

(SPENT) Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition of Thailand

National Health Security Office

(Association/Foundation Network)

A dietician can only work at these hospitals or associations when he/she is a member of the Thai dietetic association. To become a member there are certain qualifications required:

If you become a member, you become a lifetime member of the national dietetic association.
You are educated and graduated with experience like one of the points that now follows.

Diploma (vocational)

Food and nutrition
Have experience in nutrition in a hospital for at least 6 years.

Degree

Food and nutrition and received a bachelor’s degree in any one of the following:

Republic. Science (BS) in Nutrition and Dietetics, Nutrition, Nutrition or equivalent.
B. Economics (Cs.b.) Degree in Home Economics. Food and Nutrition and experience any of the following;

An internship in food/nutrition in a hospital for at least 900 hours.
An internship in food/nutrition in a hospital for at least 250 hours and have the experience of nutrition in a hospital for at least 1 year.
If there hasn’t been any internship in a hospital then there must be experience in the working field. For example working in a hospital as a nutritionist for at least 2 years is sufficient. If the work was related to food and nutrition and other aspects then there have to be experience with nutrition and working in a hospital for at least 3 years. If the work was not related to food and nutrition then there have to be experience with nutrition and working in a hospital for at least 4 years.

Masters/PhD

Food and nutrition and received a bachelor’s degree in any one of the following;
Science (BS.) and Science Doctor of Philosophy (PH.D.) in Nutrition and Dietetics, Nutrition, Nutrition or equivalent and experience any of the following;

An internship in food/nutrition in a hospital for at least 900 hours.
An internship in food/nutrition in a hospital for at least 250 hours and have the experience of nutrition in a hospital for at least 1 year is a requirement. (Qualifications)

To work as an Advisor, a Nutrition manager or a Researcher a professional big company to work at is The National Food Committee.

The goals of this committee are; food security, food safety, food quality and food education. They have 11 related ministries, 4 executive administrators, 30 national agencies and 30 relevant Acts.

The committee members are: Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Science, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Defence, The National Security Council, The National Economic and Social Development Board, The Consumer Protection Board and The National Health Committee.

To give a clear view of what this company stands for, they have surmised a vision and a mission. (Prof. Kraisid Tontisirin M.D., Thailand National Food Committee Act of 2008, 2011)

Vision:

Ensuring Quality and Safe Food Supply for Food Security and Human Well- Being

Mission:

Efficient and effective management of food production resources
Ensuring high quality, safe and nutritious food produced at household, community, and industrial levels
Promotion of R&D and utilization of knowledge along the food chain
Strengthening food management systems (food law, food database, etc.)
Ensuring food security in both normal and crisis situation at the household, community and national levels (Prof. Kraisid Tontisirin M.D., Vision and objectives, 2011)

They define their goals in the following ways:

Food security Exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. (WFS 1996,FAO modified in 2009)

Food security defined as access to sufficient and safe food with appropriate nutritional quality for good health of the population and including ecological food production system and the existence of natural food resources in normal situation, in disaster and in facing food bioterrorism.

Food safety defined as management for ensuring food and agricultural products for human consumption are safe from hazards.

Food quality defined as food with expected physical and compositional characteristics including appropriate nutritional values.

Food education defined as processes for promoting, developing, researching, and transferring appropriate knowledge, awareness and behaviors into the food supply chain and consumption. (Principle of The National Food Committee, 2008)

The authority of the National Food Committee makes sure that there’s a meeting at least twice a year to discuss the following points:

Setting policy, planning strategies, monitoring and assessing; food security, food safety, food quality and food education.
Advices and provisions of guidance to the related ministries/authorities.
Advices the cabinet in case of food disaster or bioterrorism for action and land uses.

They set up The National Food strategy and defined it approved or not. If it’s approved, then this strategy will be fulfilled (Prof. Kraisid Tontisirin M.D., The Authority of the National Food Committee, 2011).

Scientific food research
Thailand is a big competitor in world agribusiness and have a big export of processed food products.
By doing more marketing research in new product development, they have more success in introducing new products at the market, which means more income. Several organizations in Thailand develop new food products. Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research and Institute of Food Research and Product development are examples of institutes who are in scientific food research. (Suwannaporn & Speece, 2003)

Food Laws

The major law in Thailand that protects consumers from health hazards by food consumption is the ‘’food act of B.E.2522 (1979). The government controls food products from manufacturers to make sure hygiene and safety of the food is good enough to not cause health problems. The food surveillance is carried out by several ministerial organizations, of which the FDA is the most important. FDA inspectors take samples of food in the market and if they detect a problem they will send the sample to the Department of Medical Science for further analysis. If the food is not safe there will be a product recall. (Meyer, Sirikeratikul, & Preechajarn, 2009) The food laws ‘’B.E.2522 (1979)’’ and ‘’B.E.2545 (2002) together with BMA’s Regulation on criteria for Merchandise in Public Places or Ways have to take care that the food sold by food vendors at the street is safe. However a lot of food is still not safe due to among other things the low education of vendors, inadequate political support and inadequate enforcement of law and legislation (Regional consultation on safe street foods, 2011).