Raising Food Production Standards for Pork Crackling in Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

Objective: To improve the quality of pork crackling produced and distributed in Chiang Mai province by improving production facilities to meet the requirements of the Good Production Practices, Equipment, and Storage of Processed Food in Ready to Sell Containers, and improving production process in order to reduce the polar compounds in the frying oil according to the standard (≤ 25 %).  The study also aimed to support the entrepreneurs improving their products to the standards by increasing their selling places and expanding distribution channels. Methods: The study was divided into 3 phases. First phase involved the inspection of production facilities and measurement of total polar compounds in frying oil. The second phase was the presentation of inspection results on production facilities and measurement of total polar compounds in those producers passing the standards to market venders, souvenir shops, repackagers, and consumers. The third phase was the re-inspection of production facilities and total polar compounds in the frying oil. Results: Thirty five producers in the study were divided into 2 groups including was 15 authorized producers and 20 unauthorized producers. Among authorized producers, inspection on production facilities and total polar compounds at the first and second rounds revealed that 8 and 12 producers passed both standards, respectively. Inspection on total polar compounds at the second round showed that fourteen in this group met the standard. Among 20 unauthorized producers, none of them passed the first inspection on production facilities and total polar compounds. In the second round of inspection, 13 passed the standard on production facilities and 17 passed the standard on total polar compounds. One producer, passing the inspection on production facility, but not meeting the standard on total polar compounds, had pork rinds as its product. It had a high volume of production with a few stoves, leading to the fry with repeatedly used oil and the failure to meet the standard on total polar compounds. In addition, there were 10 producers failing the standard on production facilities and total polar compounds. Two of them produced pork crackling with fat, 8 with pork crackling with fat and ready-to-cook pork crackling. Four of them produced ready-to-cook pork crackling. Conclusion: Conveying the results on the inspection of production facilities and polar compounds to vendors and consumers influenced producers of pork crackling to recognize the importance of improving their product to meet the standards. However, there is still a risk in producers of pork rind and ready-to-cook pork crackling. Therefore, other measures should be implemented. Food and Drug Administration might require the producers to have the knowledge on production process and related laws or mandate testing of knowledge as a part of license application.