Phatthanakit Bee Farm & local pharmacy

Hello from Thailand! Today started off at the Phatthanakit Bee Farm. 

First we learned about the process of "consumer protection" from the Ministry of Public Health. Consumer protection focuses on the safety of materials available to the public in each of the 77 provinces in Thailand. Technical public officers that consist of nurses, pharmacists, and other personal complete surprise checks to restaurants, food factories, drugstores, and others. Their checks include testing of harmful chemicals that may affect the public such as mercury and steroids. 

Following the lecture we learned about the factory used to bottle the honey from the bee farm. We took a quick tour and learned about their testing procedures and quality assurance.

Following the bee farm we attended a local pharmacy to learn about their processes of becoming a "good quality" pharmacy and the steps that each pharmacy needs to take in order to become accredited. 

 We ended the day by taking a look around the pharmacy. It's amazing what drugs are available without a prescription including many birth controls, tretinoin acne cream and Voltaren gel!

- Chelsea Kuzio