FDA Thailand 
Importers
Importing supplements from Korea or Japan into Thailand: eight checks before you order
Supplements from Korea or Japan: why check before ordering
If you plan to import supplements from Korea to Thailand, or from Japan, a product sold legally at home will not necessarily be saleable in Thailand. Thai law treats dietary supplements as food with prescribed quality or standards under MOPH Notification No. 293 B.E. 2548 (2005), and the ingredients, amounts, label and claims must all meet Thai rules. A formula built to the limits of the country of origin may exceed Thai limits or contain ingredients Thailand does not yet accept.
The main steps, the Or.7 food import licence and the food serial number, are covered in importing dietary supplements into Thailand. This guide focuses on what to check before you agree to buy, which is where Korean and Japanese products most often get stuck. Checking while you are still asking the manufacturer for a quotation tells you early whether the product needs reformulating, before you spend money on stock.
- 1A dietary supplement under Thai definitionsCategory and format cannot be changed after filing
- 2Ingredients on the list and within daily maximums
- 3No banned parts and no unassessed novel food
- 4Vitamins, minerals and amino acids within Thai ceilings
- 5Factory certificate equivalent to GMP 420Scope covers the dosage form
- 6Korean or Japanese documents translated to the criteria
- 7Original pack wording reviewed for the Thai label
- 8Border measures checkedRed yeast rice, animal-derived ingredients
Source: MOPH Notification No. 293 and related notifications
Is it a dietary supplement under Thai definitions?
Notification No. 293 defines a dietary supplement as a product taken in addition to normal food, containing nutrients or other substances, in the form of tablets, capsules, powder, flakes, liquid or another form that is not normal food. The Food Act B.E. 2522 (1979) defines food as excluding drugs. A product marketed abroad as a medicine, or presented as having an effect on disease, therefore does not fit the food route.
Many Korean and Japanese products come in formats that need careful classification, such as drink powders, jelly sticks or small drink bottles. Some are dietary supplements; some may be other food categories. A wrong category cannot be fixed later: the Thai FDA supplement licensing guide (revised 2026) states that category, type and process data cannot be changed after filing.
Once the category is clear, ask the manufacturer for the formula per unit and the daily dose before anything else. Almost every check in the next sections is calculated from those two figures.
Thai supplement ingredient limits: on the list and within the daily maximum
The Thai FDA notification on key ingredients in dietary supplements (8 July 2024) has a list of 444 items: plants, fungi and animals with scientific name, part used, active compound and solvent, and other substances with their source. Most conditions are maximum daily amounts. Examples often relevant to Korean and Japanese products:
| Ingredient | Condition on the list |
|---|---|
| Collagen and collagen peptides (from fish skin, pig or cattle) | No more than 10 g per day in total |
| Coenzyme Q10 and ubiquinol | No more than 30 mg per day |
| Lutein with zeaxanthin | No more than 20 mg per day |
| L-glutathione from yeast | No more than 250 mg per day |
| Red yeast rice | Monacolin no more than 3 mg per day, and citrinin within the contaminants notification |
| Total dietary fibre | No more than 25 g per day |
If an ingredient's source, part used or production process requires a safety assessment, it must pass that assessment before you apply for a serial number. Products containing CITES-listed plants also need a CITES permit through the Department of Agriculture.
The simplest check: take the formula per unit, multiply by the number of units the original label recommends per day, and compare with the Thai maximum. Check a full formula in our formula checker.
Ingredients Thailand bans or treats as novel food
Food that may not be produced, imported or sold
MOPH Notification No. 424 (2021) lists 80 plants, animals or parts of them, for example hormone-containing animal organs (such as placenta or pituitary), aloe leaf other than the gel, red, black and white kwao krua, ma huang, kratom, kava kava, yohimbe bark, comfrey and tea tree oil. Cannabis and hemp are banned as whole plants, except parts licensed for domestic production under the notification's conditions. A foreign formula containing any of these cannot be imported, however small the amount. For kratom, Notification No. 430 (2021) added an exception only where it has passed a novel-food safety assessment with the label approved by the Thai FDA beforehand, or is produced for export only.
Novel food
MOPH Notification No. 376 (2016) defines novel food as a substance with less than 15 years' history of consumption as food, or one made by a non-standard process that changes its composition. It needs a safety assessment, and the label must be approved by the Thai FDA before use. The Thai FDA explanatory note gives ginseng leaf as an example: ginseng is normally consumed as root, so the leaf counts as novel food. That example applies directly to Korean ginseng products, so confirm exactly which part of the plant is used.
Assessed substances are listed in the Thai FDA database, but the approval belongs to the company that applied; another company needs a letter of consent or its own assessment.
Products sold as enzymes
MOPH Notification No. 409 (2019) on enzymes used in food production says it does not apply to enzymes used for nutrition or health. Enzyme supplements therefore cannot rely on that notification; check their ingredients against the dietary supplement rules.
Vitamins, minerals and amino acids
MOPH Notification No. 448 (2023) sets the types and maximum daily amounts of 26 vitamins and minerals. Examples of daily maximums:
- Vitamin C 1,000 mg · vitamin D 15 micrograms · vitamin A 800 micrograms RAE · vitamin B6 2 mg · folic acid 200 micrograms
- Calcium 800 mg · iron 15 mg · zinc 15 mg · selenium 70 micrograms
The Thai FDA notification on vitamin and mineral forms lets you use the forms in List No. 1 without safety verification or assessment. A type not on the list needs safety verification, and a listed type in an unlisted form needs a food safety assessment. If a foreign formula uses a particular salt or chelate, ask the manufacturer exactly which form it is.
Amino acids have their own table of daily maximums in the Thai FDA notification on amino acid ingredients, for example L-arginine 1,000 mg, L-glutamine 2,000 mg, taurine 3,000 mg and L-carnitine 500 mg. Where several forms of the same amino acid are used, the total must not exceed that amino acid's maximum.
Products formulated to the rules of their home market often carry some vitamins above the Thai ceiling. In that case the options are a Thai-market formula or not importing that version.
Korean supplement factory certificate: what the Thai FDA accepts
The Thai FDA notification on manufacturing-system certificates for imported food (27 November 2024) requires the certificate to state a standard equivalent to or not lower than Notification No. 420, with a scope covering the imported food.
The Thai FDA list of example standards equivalent to No. 420 (updated 17 December 2025) includes international schemes such as Codex GHPs and HACCP, ISO 22000 and FSSC 22000, as well as national laws or standards of several countries, including Korea and Japan. A standard not on the list that is equivalent also complies. The same document notes that some entries are time-limited: JFS-B Standard Version 2.0 certificates are valid until the end of December 2025 and JFS-C Standard Version 3.0 until the end of May 2026. If a Japanese factory sends a certificate under one of these schemes, check its version against the latest list first.
If a certificate does not match the published examples, you must file a consultation letter with a requirement comparison table under the Thai FDA guide. A certificate with no end date is valid for at most one year from issue or from the certification date.
This certificate is used to create a Ref.cer number in e-Submission before you apply for the serial number. The Food Division manual says to select every dosage form the factory makes, such as tablet, capsule, powder or liquid, from the first Ref.cer request, because it affects later applications.
Documents in Korean or Japanese: how to translate them
The same Thai FDA notification requires documents in other languages to carry a Thai or English translation certified by one of the following:
- An embassy or consulate
- A translation service provider meeting international standards
- A Thai national with at least a bachelor's degree in that language
- A university lecturer who teaches that language
Certificates must be originals, or copies certified by the issuer, an embassy, a government agency or a Notary Public. If the certificate can be verified on the standard owner's or certifier's online database, showing the standard, the site's name and address, the scope, the dates and the issuer, no copy certification is needed.
For other manufacturer quality documents, such as raw material specifications, the formula and analysis reports, ask for English versions from the start. Plants must be named by scientific name, and extracts must state the solvent, active compound and extract ratio, not a Korean or Japanese trade name.
Original pack wording versus the Thai label
Text on a foreign carton is written for the rules of the country of origin, and cannot be carried over to a Thai label as it is.
- MOPH Notification No. 447 (2023) on health claims on food labels sets three kinds of claim: nutrient function, other function and reduction of disease risk. Only wording on the published lists, or wording that has passed assessment by a body the Thai FDA designates, may be used.
- A label making a claim must not imply that the product can cure, alleviate, mitigate or prevent disease, must carry nutrition labelling, and other-function and disease-risk claims must carry the Thai statement that the product has no effect in alleviating or preventing disease.
- The product name must include the Thai term for dietary supplement product, key ingredients must be listed with amounts, mandatory boxed warnings are required, and extra warnings apply to certain ingredients such as fish oil, chitosan, bee pollen and red yeast rice.
- Notification No. 450 (2024) requires Thai-language labels and, for imports, the importer's name and address plus the manufacturer's name and country.
All mandatory label items for supplements are in Thai dietary supplement labels. Before packaging is produced for Thailand, ask the manufacturer for the original artwork so every side can be checked.
The word Warning
Source: MOPH Notification No. 293, as amended by Nos. 405 and 411
Border measures for certain products
- Red yeast rice. The Thai FDA surveillance notice on food containing red yeast rice (9 August 2024) followed reports from Japan about puberulic acid. Imports are held at the checkpoint every time for testing, unless the importer shows a puberulic acid test certificate for the lot, with results below the limit of quantification (LOQ), issued by a government agency of the country of origin or an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited private laboratory.
- Radioactivity conditions for products from Japan. MOPH Notification No. 371 (2015) sets conditions for wild boar, copper pheasant and sika deer meat from Japan. Ordinary supplements are not on that list, but if an ingredient comes from these animals, evidence must be shown at the checkpoint on every import.
- Bovine ingredients. Notification No. 459 (2025) sets import conditions by a country's BSE risk group and separates ingredients that can be imported without country conditions from those needing a certificate shown at the checkpoint. Ask the manufacturer to confirm the source of any animal-derived raw material.
The original manufacturing-site certificate is also used at the Food and Drug checkpoint, and the importer must keep the original at its premises.
Imported supplement checklist: samples first, then these checks
If you have not decided which product to order, the 2017 Thai FDA regulation on importing food samples for registration or purchase consideration allows supplement samples of no more than 100 g × 6 units, applied for on form Or.16 at the Food and Drug checkpoint. More requires a written justification with evidence. Samples are for decision-making only and may not be sold.
- The product is a dietary supplement under Thai definitions, with the right category and format.
- Every key ingredient is on the list and within the daily maximum.
- No banned plants or animals, and no novel-food ingredient that has not been assessed.
- Vitamins, minerals and amino acids match Thai types, forms and amounts.
- The factory certificate is equivalent to GMP 420, covers the dosage form and has not expired.
- Korean or Japanese documents have certified translations that meet the criteria.
- Original pack wording has been reviewed and claims not on the lists removed.
- For red yeast rice, a puberulic acid result for the lot to be imported.
Check the formula against Thai FDA lists in our formula checker, and check the route and documents with our import readiness checker. For formula review and support from licence to serial number, see our import service.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell a supplement already sold in Korea straight away?
No. You need a food import licence and a food serial number, and the formula, amounts, label and claims must meet Thai rules.
How much collagen can a supplement contain?
The Thai FDA key ingredient list (2024) sets collagen and collagen peptides at no more than 10 g per day in total.
What does a product with ginseng leaf need?
The Thai FDA explanatory note gives ginseng leaf as an example of novel food, so it needs a safety assessment and label approval first.
Who can certify translations of Japanese factory documents?
An embassy or consulate, an international-standard translation provider, a Thai national with a bachelor's degree in the language, or a university lecturer who teaches it.
Can red yeast rice products from Japan be imported?
Yes if they comply, but they are held for testing at the checkpoint every time unless a puberulic acid result below the LOQ is shown for that lot.
Sources
- Food Act B.E. 2522 (1979) · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 293 B.E. 2548 (2005) on dietary supplements · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA dietary supplement licensing guide (revised 2026) · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA notification on key ingredients in dietary supplements (8 July 2024) · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 424 (2021) on food that may not be produced, imported or sold · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 376 (2016) on novel food · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 409 (2019) on enzymes used in food production · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 448 (2023) on dietary supplements (No. 5): vitamins and minerals · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA notification on forms of vitamins and minerals as key ingredients · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA notification on amino acids as key ingredients in dietary supplements · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA notification on manufacturing-system certificates for imported food (2024) · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA examples of standards equivalent to Notification No. 420 · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA guide to consultation on manufacturing-system certificates for imported food · Open source · Search our archive
- Food Division manual on filing foreign manufacturing-site certificates for dietary supplements (Ref.cer) · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA notification on evidence for supplement label approval (2006) · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 447 (2023) on health claims on food labels · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA explanatory note on dietary supplement Notifications No. 405 and No. 411 · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 450 B.E. 2567 (2024) on prepackaged food labelling · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA surveillance notice on food containing red yeast rice (2024) · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 371 (2015) on import conditions for food at risk of radioactive contamination · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 459 (2025) on import conditions for food at risk from BSE · Open source · Search our archive
- Thai FDA regulation on importing food samples for registration or purchase consideration, 2017 · Open source · Search our archive
- MOPH Notification No. 430 B.E. 2564 (2021) amending No. 424 on food prohibited from production, import or sale · Open source · Search our archive
This article is for general information. It is not a Thai FDA ruling or legal advice, and rules change — check the latest notification or ask an expert before filing or producing.
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