Markets are more than places to buy and sell goods. They are central to everyday life—places where people purchase food, interact with their communities, support local businesses, and spend their leisure time. Because of this, the way markets are designed, managed and regulated can have an important influence on people’s health and wellbeing.
Recognizing this opportunity, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) introduced the Bangkok Premium Market initiative, an effort to raise the standards of markets across the city while creating safer, cleaner and more attractive environments for residents and visitors. Launched in 2022, the Bangkok Premium Market Awards recognizes market operators and district offices for their efforts to meet the city’s Premium Market standards.
The initiative assesses markets across multiple dimensions, including:
- Premises hygiene – ensuring markets are clean, safe and hygienic;
- Food quality – promoting fresh, safe and quality food;
- Food handlers – ensuring appropriate hygiene practices and training;
- Consumer protection – promoting fair, transparent and effective management;
- Environmentally friendly services – reducing plastic use and encouraging environmentally friendly packaging;
- Waste management – promoting waste separation and recycling; and
- Communicable disease prevention – strengthening measures to protect public health.
The standards for the Premium Market Award move beyond the traditional concept of food safety. Through a holistic approach that includes environmentally-friendly services and waste management as well as prevention of communicable diseases, it reflects a broader framework encapsulating how the market environment itself can promote health.
Markets are the sites where consumers encounter food products, vendors, promotional practices, packaging, waste and environmental conditions every day – in turn, these are factors that influence our food choices, exposure to health risks and the experience of accessing food and other goods. Thus, creating healthier markets is an important component of addressing the commercial determinants of health.
Bangkok’s Premium Market approach demonstrates how municipalities can influence commercial determinants through standards, regulation, capacity-building, recognition and collaboration. This is particularly relevant to efforts to prevent noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Ensuring access to safe and quality food, maintaining hygienic environments, protecting consumers and reducing environmental risks can all contribute to healthier urban environments.
At the award ceremony in 2025, Governor Chadchart also highlighted the importance of markets as an integral part of Thai life and in accessibility of economic opportunities to small businesses and new entrepreneurs. In his speech, Governor Chadchart shared his vision: “Developing markets into Premium Markets is important as it helps create a distinctive identity and can turn markets into tourism destinations. Amid the current difficult economic situation, markets provide an option for people to purchase goods, shop, and enjoy leisure time in a lively and accessible environment”.
This effort is synergized with other initiatives – in October 2025, the waste collection fee was increased fourfold depending on whether waste is properly separated – nudging businesses to not only minimize waste generation, but also to ensure good waste separation practices. “Organic waste can be given to farmers, recyclable waste can be sold to the recycling sector, and as little waste as possible should be sent to the BMA. This will help reduce costs. It has to start with waste separation in the markets, with every vendor and trader participating. Markets can play an important role in reducing the volume of waste and lowering costs,” Governor Chadchart emphasized.
In 2025, 15 markets were recognized as Bangkok Premium Market Model Markets, while seven markets that had met the Premium Market criteria continuously for three consecutive years, from 2023 to 2025, received the “The Best of Premium Market” award. Thirteen district offices were also recognized for their contribution to supporting markets in their areas to meet the standards.
Bangkok’s Premium Market initiative provides a practical example of how cities can act on the commercial determinants of health through local governance. Importantly, it seeks to create positive standards and incentives for healthier commercial environments, recognizing market operators as partners in improving public health.
Through awards and recognition, local governments can create incentives for market operators to demonstrate their commitment to quality, safety and responsible management. As cities across the region seek to create healthier urban environments, Bangkok’s experience offers a promising model: transforming the places where people shop every day into places that actively contribute to health and wellbeing.
