Thai Food Research Articles

Four New Sequence Types and Molecular Characteristics of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli Strains from Foods in Thailand.

The presence of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli in food is a serious and persistent problem worldwide. In this study, 68 E. coli strains isolated from Thai food samples were characterized. Based on antibiotic susceptibility assays, 31 of these isolates (45.59%) showed multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index values > 0.2, indicating high exposure to antibiotics. Among these, strain CM24E showed the highest resistance (it was resistant to ten antibiotics, including colistin and imipenem). Based on genome sequencing, we identified four isolates (namely, CF25E, EF37E, NM10E1, and SF50E) with novel Achtman-scheme multi-locus sequence types (STs) (ST14859, ST14866, ST14753, and ST14869, respectively). Clermont phylogrouping was used to subtype the 68 researched isolates into five Clermont types, mainly A (51.47%) and B1 (41.18%). The blaEC gene was found only in Clermont type A, while the blaEC-13 gene was predominant in Clermont type B1. A correlation between genotypes and phenotypes was found only in Clermont type B1, which showed a strong positive correlation between the presence of an afa operon and yersiniabactin-producing gene clusters with the colistin resistance phenotype. Strain SM47E1, of Clermont type B2, carried the highest number of predicted virulence genes. In summary, this study demonstrates the pressing problems posed by the prevalence and potential transmission of antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes in the food matrix.

Job stress matters: Understanding how job stress moderates the relationship between person-environment fit and innovative work behavior in the Thai food industry

This study investigates the impact of person-environment fit and job stress on innovative work behavior within Thailand's food industry. Through a comprehensive survey conducted among supervisors in the food industry, validated scales were utilized to measure person-environment fit, job stress, and innovative work behavior while controlling demographic variables. Employing hierarchical regression analysis and moderation analysis, the study examines the direct and moderating effects of person-environment fit and job stress on innovative work behavior. Results reveal a significant positive relationship between person-environment fit and innovative work behavior, with job stress moderating this relationship. Notably, specific points of interaction between job stress levels and person-environment fit are identified, shedding light on nuanced dynamics within the food industry. This research introduces a novel approach by integrating the Job Demands-Resources Model with person-environment fit theory to explore how specific stressors unique to the food industry can influence innovation. The study also pioneers the use of industry-specific measures for assessing job stress and innovation, which were developed and validated within this context. This research contributes to both theoretical and practical knowledge by enhancing our understanding of innovation mechanisms in the food industry and providing actionable insights for fostering creativity and innovation among employees. The study's originality lies not only in its emphasis on the context of the food industry but also in its development of tailored theoretical and methodological approaches to address the sector's unique challenges and opportunities.

The Demands for Thai Arts and Cultural Activities: A Case Study of Thai People in Lulia, The Kingdom of Sweden

This research aims to 1) study the demands for Thai arts and cultural activities utilizing a case study of Thai people in the city of Luleå, Sweden, totalling 50 people. The result showed that the overall demand for Thai arts and cultural activities is at an extremely high level. The highest demand for Thai arts and cultural activities is traditional Thai dance performances, with an average demand rating of 4.43 (SD = 0.74); traditional Thai music, with an average of 4.42 (SD = 0.73); and traditional Thai craftsmanship also, with an average of 4.42 (SD = 0.73), respectively. 2) Guideline recommendations for organizing Thai arts and cultural activities should include the following activities: traditional Thai craftsmanship, traditional Thai food, regional Thai costumes in four regions, regional Thai dialects in four regions, traditional Thai dance performances, traditional Thai music, traditional Thai folk music/Mo Lam music, traditional Thai classical music singing, the art of decorating in Thai styles, and participation in Thai arts and cultural activities. This quantitative research collects data from a questionnaire of 50 individuals using statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation.

Unique Food Culture in Thailand

Food culture refers to a special regional society of food farming, eating habits, eating etiquette. Each place, each country has its own unique food culture, Thai food culture is extensive and profound, not only reflected in the taste, aroma, more is reflected in the entire Thai cultural system. Through the introduction of Thailand's climate, agricultural structure, food hobbies, special food, etc., people have a basic understanding of Thai food culture and food preferences, and popularize Thai table manners. It is very important to respect other cultures.

Impact of leader support on open innovation: The mediating role of organizational culture, intellectual property, and collaboration

This study investigates how open innovation (OI) functions in the Thai food industry, focusing on the direct and indirect effects of leader support (LS) on OI through organizational culture (OC), intellectual property (IP), and collaboration (CO). The study employs a sample size of 380 units and utilizes path analysis and bootstrapping techniques to assess the relationships among the variables. The results indicate that LS has a significant direct impact on OI, with OC, IP, and CO serving as crucial mediators. Specifically, OC acts as a mediator, with IP and CO following, emphasizing their substantial indirect impacts on OI. OC, IP, and CO act as mediators, emphasizing their substantial indirect impacts on OI. These findings underscore the importance of effective LS in fostering a culture of innovation within the Thai food industry, where traditional recipes intersect with modern culinary trends. By elucidating the mechanisms through which LS influences OI, this study offers practical insights for organizational leaders seeking to stimulate creativity, encourage risk-taking, and foster collaboration in order to ultimately drive innovation and maintain competitiveness in the dynamic landscape of the Thai food industry. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying collaboration as a critical mediator, integrating constructs from leadership, collaboration, and innovation literatures, and validating the mediation model in the context of the Thai food industry.

Enhancing Thai Food Classification: A CNN-Based Approach with Transfer Learning

Enhancing Thai Food Classification: A CNN-Based Approach with Transfer Learning

Do HR practices for employee lifecycle influence organisational outcomes equally in Asia? Evidence from the Indo-Thai food sector

PurposeThe primary purpose of this contextual study was three-fold: (1) to study the effect of HR practices on employee lifecycle (ELC) on organisational outcomes; (2) to investigate the mediating role of employee outcomes in the relationship between HR practices and organisational outcomes; (3) to assess the differences in HR practices of the Indian and Thai food processing industries.Design/methodology/approachThe study used random sampling to select 574 (278 Indian and 296 Thai) HR managers in food processing industries. A structured questionnaire was administered. The PLS-SEM was used to validate the relationships, while multiple group analysis (MGA) was employed to compare the HR practices.FindingsThe results revealed a significant influence of HR practices on organisational outcomes. Employee outcomes also mediate this influence. MGA results showed no significant variation in the effect of HR practices on organisational outcomes between India and Thailand.Practical implicationsHR practices must be aligned to suit country-specific business contexts to achieve organisational outcomes by improving employee outcomes. The findings would guide managers of the Indian and Thai food industries to develop tailor-made HR strategies.Originality/valueThis study contributes to comparative HRM in the Asian context by offering an empirically tested framework. Additionally, this comparative research offers insightful information on convergent best practices among Asian nations.

Automated Artificial Intelligence–Based Thai Food Dietary Assessment System: Development and Validation

BackgroundDietary assessment is a fundamental component of nutrition research and plays a pivotal role in managing chronic diseases. Traditional dietary assessment methods, particularly in the context of Thai cuisine, often require extensive training and may lead to estimation errors. ObjectivesTo address these challenges, Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University (INMU) iFood, an innovative artificial intelligence–based Thai food dietary assessment system, allows for estimating the nutritive values of dishes from food images. MethodsINMU iFood leverages state-of-the-art technology and integrates a validated automated Thai food analysis system. Users can use 3 distinct input methods: food image recognition, manual input, and a convenient barcode scanner. This versatility simplifies the tracking of dietary intake while maximizing data quality at the individual level. The core improvement in INMU iFood can be attributed to 2 key factors, namely, the replacement of Yolov4-tiny with Yolov7 and the expansion of noncarbohydrate source foods in the training image data set. ResultsThis combination significantly enhances the system’s ability to identify food items, especially in scenarios with closely packed food images, thus improving accuracy. Validation results showcase the superior performance of the INMU iFood integrated V7-based system over its predecessor, V4-based, with notable improvements in protein and fat estimation. Furthermore, INMU iFood addresses limitations by offering users the option to import additional food products via a barcode scanner, thus providing access to a vast database of nutritional information through Open Food Facts. This integration ensures users can track their dietary intake effectively, with expanded access to over 3000 food items added to or updated in the Open Food Facts database covering a wide variety of dietary choices. ConclusionsINMU iFood is a promising tool for researchers, health care professionals, and individuals seeking to monitor their dietary intake within the context of Thai cuisine and for ultimately promoting better health outcomes and facilitating nutrition-related research.

O Desenvolvimento do Turismo Sustentável para a Promoção da Cultura na Área Local: Estudo de Caso Distrito de Nong Sung, Província de Mukdahan, Tailândia

Purpose: This research aimed 1) to explore the geographical and cultural aspects of the area; 2) to design and create a sustainable tourism model; and 3) to suggest a development model to generate income, increase well-being in the community, and transfer lessons learned to other areas. Method: This research employed realist ethnographic approach collecting data from observation and focus groups of District Chief, Deputy District Chief, senior villagers, and villagers. The researcher describes and interprets the shared and learned patterns of values, behavior, belief and language to create and design a sustainable tourism model to support Phu Thai cultural tourism. Result and Conclusion: The results showed that the Nong Sung district’s geography consists tiny valleys that surround in all four directions and has a creek through during the rainy season. The valleys have waterfalls flowing all year. Specifically, the ethnic identity of the Phu Thai people becomes the basis of cultural tourism management. As one of the Northeast's best traditional communities in terms of way of life, traditions, religious beliefs, and customs, this community has national recognition as a top tourist destination. Interestingly, the cultural town showed the unique nature of the area by significantly integrating government policies and traditional ways of life. Research Implications: Phu Thai community at Nong Sung is the key actor for this sustainable tourism model. Phu Thai culture, dress, food, lifestyle and language are the key elements for Phu Thai community sustainable and cultural tourism. The creation of signage and resources for tourist attractions should obviously be provided. Finally, the younger generation should inherit the valuable culture, especially the Phu Thai language and cultural traditions. Originality/Value: Phu Thai in Northeastern part of Thailand is sustainable traditional tourism community that delivers traditional way of life, religious beliefs and customs to promote local cultures, especially the Phu Thai language.

The Potential Analytical Impact of Significant Sectoral Creative Economy on Thailand’s Economy: A Case Study of the IRS-CGE Model vs. the CRS-CGE Model for Both the National and Provincial Economies

The United Nations has promoted and supported the UNCTAD Creative Economy Programme since 2004 to help countries around the world understand how to promote economic development through creativity in industries. This research article aims to determine whether the creative economy will be the major engine to accelerate Thailand’s economic development in the coming decade or not, and what the major creative economy sectors are that must be prioritized or initiated and focused on. The data implemented in this research cover 2011–2018, which consist of creative economy sector income, the IO table, and the SAM table. The methodology utilized in this research was the ML model, the GREY model for predicting the growth rate of income from the major creative economy sectors contribute to Thailand’s economy between 2019–2025, and the CGE model. The study’s empirical findings show that the significant sectoral creative economy consists of fashion, advertising, Thai food, and cultural tourism, which need to be given more stimulus. Furthermore, the economies of Chiang Mai, and Thailand as a whole, would eventually be high-income economies if creative economy sectors were to be promoted and continuously supported by efficient policies. the economic growth of Thailand and Chiang Mai would eventually become high income whenever these economies allow creative economy sectors to be promoted or supported by efficient policies continuously.

Sour soup, Tom Yum, or Dongyin? What can a menu tell us about linguistic capital and multilingual development in contemporary Thailand?

ABSTRACT In Bangkok, Thailand, one of the top tourist destinations in the world, foreign language skills in the tourism industry are seen as a form of linguistic capital. Drawing upon the theoretical notion of ‘linguistic capital’, this study aims to investigate the patterns of language choice on Thai food menus and examine the relationship between the language used on a menu and the average price of four selected dishes in Thai restaurants. Fieldwork data were collected from 117 Thai restaurants located in three districts of Bangkok. The findings reveal that Thai-only menus are the most prevalent in Thai restaurants, while Thai-English bilingual menus and Thai-English-Chinese trilingual menus are less common. However, Thai restaurants with bilingual menus have higher average prices than those with monolingual Thai menus and trilingual menus. By triangulating linguistic ethnography with historical documents, this study argues that English-Thai bilingualism will continue to function as linguistic capital in contemporary Bangkok for the foreseeable future. In comparison to the English language, Chinese is merely an additional script on the menu without a superior economic perception. This demonstrates how linguistic values are shaped by glocalised commercial powers, which can help us understand the changing dynamics of linguistic hierarchy in multilingual Asia.

New Product Development Process of Thai SMEs in Food Industry

Amidst the highly competitive landscape of the food industry, every company requires a new product development (NPD) process to create new products that can replace current offerings. This research aimed to investigate the NPD process in the food industry of Thai SMEs. A qualitative research method was employed, involving in-depth interviews, to probe NPD processes in this particular industry. The population of this study included people with expertise in NPD within Thai food SMEs from government agencies, academic institutions, and successful SMEs. Specifically, the sample comprised three representatives from government agencies, three academic institutions, and five successful SMEs in the food business. These representatives were selected through purposive sampling. It was found that the overall NPD process in the food industry of successful SMEs was consistent with the common NPD process with eight steps. However, each group in the sample had different views on the most critical component. Government agencies attached great importance to laws and regulations, while academic institutions paid attention to the R&D of new food product development, and successful SMEs devoted much attention to quickly responding to customer or market needs. There were four essential parts identified: 1) relevant laws and regulations; 2) appropriate production technology; 3) consumer sensory tests; and 4) market testing as being important for the NPD process. Moreover, the findings also indicated that the successful NPD process of Thai food SMEs was about continuous learning and improvement, which required an agile concept, involving a continuous multi-step process that remains open to flexibility and dynamic information feedback.

Developing a training program to enhance conservation awareness and attitudes among Thai hotel cooks: A comparative study

Thai cuisine, a reflection of the nation's cultural identity, has evolved over time and embodies the way of life, thoughts, and mindset of the Thai people. This study aims to develop a training program designed to heighten participants' understanding of conservation issues and assess changes in their conservation attitudes pre and post-training. The research, conducted among 354 Thai hotel cooks, reveals a fundamental challenge in Thai food preparation: the lack of standardized conservation and marketing practices. This encompasses basic culinary skills and regional cooking variations. Culinary schools often emphasize their own culinary philosophies, further exacerbating the issue. Results from the training program indicate that business owners significantly improved their cooking practices, adhered to the National Standard for Thai food sanitation, catered to dietary needs, and embraced authentic Thai cuisine. The Delphi method facilitated consensus on the appropriateness of the training program, and 100 participants reported enhanced project management skills and culinary expertise. The participants expressed satisfaction with the trainers' expertise and communication skills. This research has implications for training programs aimed at promoting awareness of traditional conservation issues and fostering conservation attitudes in the context of Thai food preparation.

The Language and Thainess of Thai Food Products on an E-Commerce Platform

The term ‘food products from Thailand’ was searched on the biggest e-commerce platform, Amazon. 140 Thai food products from Thailand were presented and fell into four categories: rice products (2), canned and instant food (19), snacks and candies (35), and food ingredients and seasonings (84); and 29 Thai food products from other countries were also found in three categories: rice products (6), canned and instant food (6), and food ingredients and seasonings (17). Thai brand names were the most found (53.52%) followed by English brand names (29.58%). In terms of language patterns, English dominance showed in the use of Thai-English (50.01%) together with the use of English only (23.26%) and English-Chinese (1.16%). Thainess was mostly presented with pictures of Thai food dish along with fresh vegetables, herbs, and spices (86.73%). Notably, certain food products with clear and transparent plastic packaging were presented without any pictures, but the products themselves. Although rice is one of the major food exports from Thailand, only 2 brand names of rice products from Thailand were found compared to 6 brands of rice products from other countries. Notably, a name of Thai place was found in a food product exported from other country.

Exploring the benefits of applying indigenous knowledge (IK) into foresight process

PurposeIndigenous knowledge is an essential element for unveiling the evolutionary journey of socio-culture phenomena. One of the key challenges in foresight exercises is to incorporate social-culture issues such as culture, lifestyle and behavior (referred as indigenous knowledge) into the study. However, the statistical trends of those factors tend to be either not available or limited unlike the population or economic related factors. The purpose of this study is to present the use of valuable data from indigenous knowledge to enhance the foresight exercise through the better understanding of social dynamics and changes.Design/methodology/approachThe fragmented form of indigenous knowledge is analyzed and converted into a structured data format and then interpreted to unveil the evolutionary journey of socio-cultural phenomena. This study applies a scenario development method to visualize the results of foresight by comparing before and after the integration of indigenous knowledge. Finally, an assessment was conducted to reflect the value enhancement resulting from the integration of indigenous knowledge into the foresight process.FindingsWith the proposed approach, the foresight study on the future development of Thai food was demonstrated. The findings of this study show that the use of indigenous knowledge on eating behavior, cooking style and food flavor helps improve the alternative scenarios for the future development of Thai foods.Practical implicationsIndigenous knowledge can be applied to develop plausible scenarios and future images in foresight exercises. However, by nature, indigenous knowledge is not well-structured and, therefore, needs to be analyzed and turned into structured data so that it can be interpreted before integrating into the foresight process.Originality/valueThis study is one of few studies addressing the opportunities for integrating indigenous knowledge into foresight process. Indigenous knowledge can unveil the evolution of socio-cultural changes to improve the results of foresight study, especially the cases where statistical data and trends may not be sufficient to foresee future development.

The Information Analysis of Vegetable Traceability to Support the Agricultural Safety

The objective of this research is to analyze data flow in vegetable traceability systems which support the Agricultural safety by reviewing two main standards. These two main standards consist of the standard of traceability system and Safety Agricultural Standards. The standard of the traceability system complies with 6 standards; namely, Standards of the Federation of Thai Industries, Food and Drug Administration, ISO 9001: 2015, Thai Agricultural Standard (TAS 9028-2557), EU standard, and Codex Alimentarius Commission. The Safety Agricultural Standards comply with 10 standards as follows: Thai Good Agricultural Practice; ThaiGAP, Organic Thailand, Organic Ariculture Cetification Thailand; A.C.T., ISO 9001: 2015, ISO 22000: 2018, Good Hygiene Practice; GHP, Japanese Agricultural Standard; JAS, Global Good Agricultural Practice; Global GAP, BRC (British Retail Consortium) Food Issue 8, and The National Organic Program; NOP. The data can be analyzed for 14 data of vegetable traceability systems supporting safe agriculture in order to meet vegetable safety standards.

Agile SHRM practices and employee-organisational outcomes during new normal: evidence from India and Thailand

PurposeThe purpose of the cross-cultural study is three-fold – (1) to examine the effect of agile strategic human resource management (ASHRM) practices for each stage of the employee life-cycle on employee outcomes, (2) to investigate employee outcomes – organisational outcome linkage and (3) to explore the link between organisational outcomes and shared values to society.Design/methodology/approachThe research used random sampling to select 674 managers (358 from India and 316 from Thailand) who work in food processing firms. A structured questionnaire was administered to the respondents separately for collecting data. The authors used PLS-SEM to verify the study hypotheses and related research models.FindingsThe multi-group analysis (MGA) results indicated a significant difference in agile SHRM practices, employee outcomes, organisational outcomes and shared values in the Indian and Thai samples. However, the difference in the impact of the organisational outcome on shared values to society was found to be insignificant, suggesting that organisational outcome had a similar impact on shared values in both countries.Practical implicationsThe agile strategic HR practices, especially talent acquisition, learning and development, reward and recognition, must be aligned to suit country-specific culture for improving job satisfaction, employee engagement and employee productivity, which would result in improved organisational outcomes such as profitability and customer satisfaction, ultimately enhancing shared values to society. This comparative analysis would also help the Indian and Thai food sectors develop new strategies or alter existing ones in light of the ASHRM model.Originality/valueThe study provides an innovative ASHRM framework from a cross-cultural perspective, which may help organisations to adopt agile talent acquisition, career development and separation strategies to thrive in the turbulent international business environment.

Rituximab for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in Thailand: an economic evaluation and budget impact analysis

BackgroundMultiple sclerosis is an inflammatory demyelination process in the central nervous system (CNS) causing neurological disability and poor quality of life. Currently, Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved disease-modifying therapy is costly, and most patients with multiple sclerosis are ineligible for treatment in Thailand as previous studies have challenged its cost-effectiveness. Off-label use of rituximab is inexpensive and highly effective in treating multiple sclerosis, but evidence of its cost-effectiveness in Thailand is yet to be collected.MethodsThis study aimed to evaluate the cost-utility and budget impact of rituximab for multiple sclerosis treatment compared with best supportive care, the standard practice in Thailand to treat the disease. A Markov model with a one-month cycle length and lifetime horizon was applied to compare the costs and outcomes of rituximab and best supportive care based on a societal perspective. Accordingly, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were estimated. Probabilistic and one-way sensitivity analyses were conducted to investigate parameter uncertainty. In addition, the Markov model was used to assess the 5-year budget impact from the government perspective.ResultsA rituximab biosimilar demonstrated higher effectiveness and lower associated costs, compared to best supportive care, with the highest probability of being cost-effective (96%). The probability of relapse was the most sensitive parameter according to the one-way sensitivity analysis. The calculated budget impact of treating patients with multiple sclerosis in Thailand was 26,360,000 Thai baht (THB) or 844,255 United States dollars (USD) in the first fiscal year, and approximately 20,810,000–23,080,000 THB (666,608–739,388 USD) in the next four fiscal years.ConclusionIn Thailand, a rituximab biosimilar would reduce the overall costs of multiple sclerosis treatment and should, therefore, be included in the National List of Essential Medicines.

การปรับปรุงการแปรรูปอาหารทะเลในวิสาหกิจขนาดเล็ก: กรณีศึกษาการผลิตน้ำปลาผสม

The seafood industry is economically important and generates high income. Therefore, the government has a policy to push the Thai food industry into a global food hub. This is a good opportunity for Thai seafood industries throughout the supply chain. In increasing the quantity and value of the export of Thai aquatic products. The fish sauce market has been adversely affected by the competition of seasoning powders that can be easily substituted and have good taste. This trend has had a serious impact on the competitiveness of small operators. Therefore, this research focuses on the study of the blended fish sauce production process, which is low price, large market, and high competition. But has a relatively high energy cost by increasing productivity in the brewing process at lower energy costs. The improvement results showed that the energy cost per 1 cycle of mixed fish sauce production decreased from 1,210.65 baht to 536 baht or approximately 0.55 baht / liter to 0.24 baht / liter, which increases the productivity per unit of energy by approximately 56.36%.

Evaluation of grass pollen quality control for allergy test kit production using pollen morphological characters

Grass pollen is one of the leading causes of allergies in throughout the world. The symptom level depends on the personal immunity. Pollen allergy test kits are suitable for detecting allergic symptoms, which they are produced from pure pollen of specific species. The production of pollen allergy testing kits requires accurate botanical standards and identification for the process of quality control of raw materials basing on Thai Food and drug ministration (Thai FDA). To produce allergy test kit, we focused on the pollen of these 6 common grass species and also use pollen morphological characters for detection and identification. Therefore, this study focused on the method for qualification control and standardization for prototype product of grass pollen allergy testing kit. Six common grass species as Megathyrsus maximus (Jacq.) B.K.Simon & S.W.L. Jacobs, Oryza sativa L., Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, Urochloa eminii (Mez) Davidse, Urochloa mutica (Forssk.) T.Q.Nguyen and Zea mays L.). The criteria were: 1) common in Thailand and Southeast Asia; 2) high density in the atmosphere; and 3) severity of the allergic reaction. The modified acetolysis were applied for samples preparation. The pollen morphological (polar and equatorial axes, exine, porus, annulus and ornamentation) were observed and measurement under light and scanning electron microscope. The character matrix was analyzed based on a regression tree and Tukey’s HSD test to assess support for the different pollen morphological characters. The distinguished character is ornamentation. The results were successfully described the pollen species and showed that the pollen morphologies were useful for contaminated detection. In addition, this method was suitable applied for qualification control of the raw materials for grass pollen allergy testing kits production.