EXCLUSIVE!! THAI'S HALAL KITCHEN AT ITS CATERING SERVICES UNIT

NOTE from the BlogMaster
Hi, and welcome to my first EXCLUSIVE column of this blog. As announced, I would like to add some features to my Blog and I think this column is very good for being the first one. Eventhough I am not an Islamic, I also think this is the one BIG step forward. Finally, please be sure that this doesn't mean that I will stop updating my series, I will continue updating them as I was.

**THAI FULLY OPERATES CERTIFIED ‘HALAL’ FOOD KITCHEN**

 

Responding to growing demand from thousands of Muslim travelers every day, Thai Airways International Public Company Limited today (1st February 2008), signed an MoU with the Islamic Committee of Samut Prakarn Province to receive permission for usage of the Halal Logo by Central Islamic Committee of Thailand.
This means that Thai Airways International’s “Halal” kitchen is now fully certified to ensure conformity with the permissible dietary requirements under Islamic law. “Halal” food is the Islamic equivalent of the Jewish “kosher” food, and has to meet its regulatory standards at every step from purchasing to production and preparation.
The “Halal” kitchen set up by THAI Catering Services operates as an entirely separate unit from the regular catering facility at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The kitchen earlier received the Halal Food Certificate from the Institute for Halal Food Standard of Thailand (Halal Thai), on 1 January 2008.
THAI flies daily to numerous cities in countries with large Islamic populations, such as UAE, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Oman, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam and Indian’s destinations. In addition to the demand from Muslim passengers, THAI also provides meals for 10 customer airlines, which are national carriers of Islamic-majority countries. Total demand is for an estimated 5,000 Halal meals per day, with more growth projected in future.

++THE INSTITUTE FOR HALAL FOOD STANDARD OF THAILAND (HALAL-THAI)++

Was established by the Regulation of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand Regarding the Establishment of the Institute for Halal Food Standard of Thailand B.E 2546, in order to empower Thailand’s competitiveness as one of the Halal Food Hub of the region.
Historically, Halal food affairs in Thailand have been undertaken for more than 50 years. The Central Islamic Committee of Thailand and The Provincial Islamic Committee are authorized to act as the principle bodies of Halal food certification.
In 2003, the organization was restructured towards establishing a special body as so called “ The Institute for Halal Food Standard of Thailand (Halal-Thai)” under supervision of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand, this Institute works through the Executive Committee composed of Islamic scholars, high experienced professionals and experts in various fields with potential teamwork with doctorate, master and bachelor degree to create the best performance as to attain the Institute ‘s vision.
The Halal-Thai is a national agency engaged in standard development, screening, monitoring, verification and tracing of all Halal food to be in accordance with Islamic law (Shariah) as well as internationally accepted and reliable food standards (Codex, HACCP and GMP)
This is example of the Certification issued by HALAL-THAI:

Click here for more information on HALAL-THAI and Click here for more on HALAL Certificate Guide
++What's the management says++
Mrs. Pismai Chandrubeksa, Managing Director, Catering Services, said that meeting the special dietary requirements of its passengers is a very important part of the airline’s customer service. Demand has been growing steadily over the years to the point where it became necessary to set up a Halal Kitchen as a separate unit from the regular kitchen in its own right.
Therefore, THAI's Halal Kitchen at Suvarnabhumi Airport began serving Halal meals for Muslim customer airlines and THAI's international flights departing fromSuvarnabhumi Airport based on customre's pre-order, effective as of 1 January 2008. For further information and reservations, passengers may contact THAI’s 24-hour Call Center at tel. 0-2356-1111
SO... if you are Muslim, feel free to visit Thailand, we can guarantee you the quality and plenty (and tasty) of our HALAL food.
References: 1. THAI AIRWAYS WEBSITE 2. THE INSTITUTE FOR HALAL FOOD STANDARD OF THAILAND (HALAL-THAI) WEBSITE 3. KINNAREE MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2008.

This Exclusive Column is presented to you by PY106.

PORTUGAL 2005 Part 3

(This story continue from Part 1 and Part 2)

**INFARMED AND ANOTHER EVENING AT RIO TEJO**

I slept early on Sunday's night because I had to woke up early the next day. After breakfasted, I, my colleague and other participants left the hotel on the same coach. Nunu was with us again. We went to ISQ Co., Ltd. for the opening meeting of the training. The opening meeting was simple and warm. Prof. Rogerio Gaspar (I can't remember his full name since it is very long...), who was the coordinator of this training, gave us the key points of the training.

After lunch, a very long one, the opening session was finished. We then started our training by visiting the National Authority of Medicines and Health Products of Portugal: INFARMED (Autoridade Nacional do Medicamento e Produtos de Saúde, I.P.).

Under the aegis of the Ministry of Health the National Authority of Medicines and Health Products, IP is the National Regulatory Authority that evaluates, authorises, regulates and controls human medicines as well as health products namely medical devices and cosmetics.

The INFARMED's main goal is to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines and the quality, safety and performance of health products in order to avoid the risks of their use while ensuring adequate standards of public health and consumer's protection.

Amongst INFARMED's top activities the regulation and supervision of medicinal and health products from research up to their use by healthcare professionals and patients is of particular importance.

INFARMED performs at national and European levels its competences and responsibilities of National Competent Authority on medicines and health products and of Reference Laboratory on the Quality Control of Medicines within the scope of the Network of Official Medicines Control Laboratories (OMCL).

Quoted from: INFARMED

We spent the rest of our time at INFARMED; listening, sharing and discussing many points related to regulating of medicinal products. I then can understand the situation of each ASEAN countries when they asked questions of their interest. I do like to do things like this, understanding the situatino from conversation. It's more art than science since it's not easy to know what is correct and what is hided under the question.

It was after the afternoon tea that we had some time to went outside to shoot some pictures. The surrounding area of INFARMED was very nice, also the buildings. After that we continued our session and exchange souveniors with the chief of INFARMED.

We arrived the hotel at half past six and we feel a bit too tired to go far from the hotel. We then decided to continued our walk at RIO TEJO... it was no rain that day but light was going to faded out and dusk was creeping in. The wind was less strong so it was not too cold for me.

And that's the first long day of mine in Portugal. Almost every weekday, we was trained until the late afternoon. So, next part, I'll shift to the weekend between our training but before this part last, I have 3 nice pictures to share with you. The first and the second was the scenary of a restaurant we visited for lunch a few times that week and the last one, the lisbon tram.

THIS STORY CONTINUE ON PART 4