The Office of the Consumer Protection Board has been asked to consider new regulations requiring stainless steel products to be labelled according to the quality of the metal.
The move is part of an effort to curb the number of sub-standard products on the market.
The request came from the Thai Stainless-Steel Development Association (TSSDA) and a group of 10 stainless-steel product manufacturers and users.
The existence of sub-standard products has recently been highlighted by increasing consumer complaints about stainless-steel products with "High Quality" labels that have rusted soon after commencing normal use.
The request for new quality labelling is expected to promote discussion among relevant parties to come up with a solution to the inferior-quality problem.
TSSDA president Jean-Paul Thevenin said stainless-steel products had increasingly gained in popularity in the household sector. However, consumers have begun questioning the association about the rust resistance of stainless-steel products in the market.
"It reduces consumers' confidence, destroys Thai manufacturers and damages the image of Thai stainless-steel products," Thevenin said.
The TSSDA recently made a random inspection of household appliances that will make up the sector directly affected if the labelling recommendation on stainless-steel products is implemented.
With collaborative support from the Thainox Research and Development Centre, the components and engineering properties of 13 stainless-steel products were tested.
All samples were found to be cheap imports with low anti-corrosion performance, which were regarded as unsuitable for cooking or household use.
Some were made of grade-409 stainless steel, which is good for the production of automobile exhaust pipes; others were made of grade 200, which is not recommended for prolonged use in corrosive environments, such as urban or coastal areas. They are not recommended for use with acidic foods. Yet most of these products were affixed with "High Quality" labels, providing misleading and inaccurate information to consumers, the association said.
The 10 companies joining the TSSDA in its request for new labelling regulations were Thainox Stainless, Satien Stainless Steel, Advanced Stainless Steel, VP Rangsee Industry, Stainless Steel Home Equipment Manufacturing, Jaguar Industries (Thailand), Thai Unique Coil Centre, Thai-German Products, Toyo Millennium and Thai Stainless Steel.
Thevenin said stainless steel - one of the most hygienic of materials - was widely used in medical equipment, the food and beverage industry and even in the nuclear-energy industry, the last of which required extremely high levels of safety.
However, most consumers are not aware there are many grades of stainless steel or that each grade is suitable for a specific application - particularly the one for cooking, which is the major concern of the Thai stainless-steel industry, he said.
As well as requesting the OCPD regulate all stainless-steel products, the TSSDA and the group of 10 Thai operators will join forces to disseminate information concerning stainless steel, its many different grades and appropriate consumer and industrial uses for the different grades.
