What Thailand requires before a rendering plant can ship poultry meal or MBM

Bottom line

Thailand’s approval for rendered animal protein is plant by plant, and the request must come through the exporting country’s authority. Poultry meal, feather meal and meat and bone meal (MBM) can enter Thailand only from a production facility that the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) has inspected and approved. The approval is valid for five years (DLD procedure dated 23 September 2022, English translation December 2022).

For a buyer in Thailand, the first question is not only “which country?” but “which plant, and is its approval still valid?”

Two kinds of rule in this note

• Importing-country rule: a text issued by the importing country, here the DLD. This is what officers check at the Thai border.
• WOAH standard: an international recommendation in the WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code. It does not apply at the border by itself. Under the WTO SPS Agreement, a country may set stricter conditions if it has a scientific basis.

Unless we say otherwise, the conditions below are Thailand’s own rules.

Who decides, and under which law?

The DLD, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, controls animal feed. Its Division of Animal Feed and Veterinary Products Control (AFVC) handles feed imports (DLD AFVC presentation, file dated January 2020).

The legal base is the Animal Feed Quality Control Act B.E. 2558 (2015). Under this Act, the DLD issued notifications in 2017 and 2018 on three points (DLD AFVC presentation):

• which “especially controlled” feeds need a plant audit and approval before import;
• conditions for poultry-derived feed with a risk of avian influenza;
• conditions for ruminant-derived feed with a risk of BSE.

Which products need an approved plant?

Importing-country rule. The DLD procedure lists the products in its Annex I (DLD procedure, 2022). In short:

Animal source	Examples on the list
Poultry	Poultry meal, poultry by-product meal, feather meal, blood meal, plasma powder, egg powder, poultry fat, palatability enhancers
Cattle	Meat meal, MBM, bone meal, greaves, tallow, blood meal, plasma powder, gelatin and collagen from bones, dicalcium phosphate
Pigs	Meat meal, MBM, bone meal, fats, blood meal, plasma powder, bristle meal, palatability enhancers
Sheep and goats	Meat meal, MBM

Cattle meals such as bovine MBM are on the list and need an approved plant (Annex I, item 1.3). Item 1.13 is a narrower exception for products that only contain cattle ingredients, and it applies to ingredients from countries in Group 1 (Negligible Risk for BSE) and with no history of BSE. It does not remove cattle meals from the list. The full BSE conditions are set in a separate DLD notification that we have not reviewed in the original Thai text.

How does a plant get approved?

Importing-country rule. The procedure starts at government level: the exporting country’s authority sends an official invitation letter to the DLD, supplies product and process documents, and the DLD then inspects the plant. The letter names the feed type and the animal species of the raw material, so an approval is tied to that product and species (DLD procedure, 2022). The approval is valid for five years, and renewal needs a new inspection. The DLD notes that its English text is a provisional translation and only the Thai text is legally binding.

What about countries with avian influenza?

This is the point that most often affects poultry meal and feather meal.

Importing-country rule. The 2017 DLD notification, as described by the DLD in a presentation posted in January 2020, prohibits poultry meal, poultry by-product meal and feather meal from a country with a suspected highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak, or an outbreak reported to WOAH, within 12 months of the last outbreak. The exception is meal processed by one of these methods (DLD AFVC presentation):

Method	Minimum standard
Moist heat	At least 118 °C for at least 40 minutes
Continuous hydrolysis	Steam pressure at least 3.79 bar, at least 122 °C, for at least 15 minutes
Other rendering process	Proven to heat the whole product to at least 74 °C

Heat alone is not enough. There must also be measures or evidence showing that the product did not come from, or come into contact with, avian influenza outbreak sources.

WOAH standard. The 12-month window and these heat values are Thailand’s own conditions. The current WOAH Terrestrial Code (Chapter 10.4, most recent update adopted in 2024) lists rendered protein meal and feather meal as safe commodities, for which WOAH recommends no HPAI conditions. The Thai rule is what applies at the Thai border. We have not confirmed whether the 2017 notification was amended later.

What is checked when the cargo arrives?

Importing-country rule. The importer needs an import licence and an import notification from the DLD (form Nor Sor 4 in the DLD flowchart). At the border, the DLD presentation (2020) lists three groups of checks:

• Documents: certificate of health and certificate of origin.
• Laboratory: Salmonella, melamine, ruminant DNA, aflatoxin and other mycotoxins, dioxin, and proximate analysis (protein, fat, fibre, moisture).
• Physical: container seals and appearance.

The ruminant DNA test matters for poultry and other non-ruminant meals. A lot that is declared as non-ruminant should be clean of cattle material, and the plant’s process should support that.

Points to watch

Before planning a shipment, keep the plant, the date and the product in view. Approval is tied to the plant, the product and the animal species, and it runs for five years, so the end date matters against the arrival date. Avian influenza status and the heat-treatment wording on the health certificate also matter. Bovine products follow separate DLD BSE conditions. Your Thai importer holds the import papers; confirm the details with them and the DLD.

MANTA view

This is MANTA’s reading of the sources above. It is not legal advice.

Thailand’s system puts the work at the start. Once a plant is approved, the five-year term gives buyers and producers a stable base. Without approval, there is no short route. The invitation must come from the exporting country’s authority, and the DLD must inspect the plant. That takes time and needs planning well before the first contract.

Requirements can change, and the HPAI conditions above come from a 2017 text described in 2020. Please confirm the current rules with the DLD and your Thai importer before each new contract. We will update this note if we see a new DLD notification. If your experience with DLD approvals is different, we would be glad to hear your view.

General market information only, based on the cited sources as of their publication dates. Not legal or trading advice. Verify requirements with the Department of Livestock Development and your importer before shipment.