Inspection for Compliance to the Good Manufacturing Practice among the Community-Owned Production Sites of Bottled Drinking Water in Trang and their Product Quality

Abstract

Objectives: To inspect the compliance to the Good Manufacturing Practice standard (GMP) among the community-owned production sites for bottled drinking water in Trang and to determine their product quality. The study also tried to improve 2 production sites failing to meet the GMP standard to become model sites of the province. Method:  The subjects were 35 production sites randomly selected from 73 sites receiving financial support from the Sufficiency Economy project of Thai Government in 2009. The researcher interviewed those in charge of the production sites, tested their knowledge on the GMP standard and relevant law and inspected whether the sites met the GMP standard. Moreover, bottled water was sampled for laboratory test. Subsequently, two sites with the highest scores on GMP inspection, but failed to meet the standard, were chosen for quality improvement. Results: Community’s decision on the drinking water production was based mainly on perceived benefit without a careful consideration of relevant regulations. Entrepreneurs showed a low level of knowledge on the GMP standard and relevant law (8.64±2.86 out of 15). All of the production sites in the study failed the GMP standard. Laboratory test of bottled water sampled from the study sites revealed that 47.10% of them met the chemical and microbiological standard. Knowledge on the GMP standard of those in charge of the production sites positively correlated with the scores on GMP inspection. Those with the products passing the chemical and microbiological standard had a higher level of the GMP scores than those failing the test in the following categories; premises, equipment and machines, and sanitation. The researcher was able to improve one production site (from the total of two) to satisfy the GMP standard. Key success factors were commitment of those in charge of the site, priority given to the production by the community, management skill and guidance from the governmental agency. Conclusion: Community-owned production sites of bottled drinking water were prone to fail the GMP standard, their quality of product was also lower than that stipulated by law. Governmental granting agencies for community projects should integrate their work with those responsible for consumer protection in order to prevent the similar problems in the future.