Thai script ผัดกะเพรา. No standard defines the stir-fry. One standard, TCPS 496/2547, covers a dried krapow seasoning mix, and its definition names exactly chilli, garlic and holy basil leaf, with sugar and fish sauce as optional seasoning. No oyster sauce. The leaf is holy basil, not Thai sweet basil. The document spells the dish กะเพรา in its title and กระเพรา in its labelling clause. No producer currently holds a certificate against it.
The standard exists, and it is easy to miss
The Thai Industrial Standards Institute, part of the Ministry of Industry, publishes the Thai Community Product Standard series — short specifications for individual Thai foods. There is exactly one for krapow: TCPS 496/2547, whose register entry reads เครื่องปรุงผัดกระเพรา and carries the English title Holy Basil Seasoning Paste.
It is genuinely hard to find. Search the register for กะเพรา, the spelling Thai style guides treat as correct and the spelling the standard itself uses on its cover, and you get nothing at all. Search for กระเพรา and the standard appears. The register indexes the spelling used in the standard’s labelling clause rather than the one in its title. We mention this because it is the reason this document is usually reported as not existing.
One more thing to be clear about before going further. Scope clause 1.1 covers only the dried seasoning, packed in a container. Nothing in the series defines the dish: not the meat, not the rice, not the fried egg, not a single proportion. There is also a translation oddity worth flagging — the English title says paste, while the Thai scope covers a product that has been dried. We report both and do not try to reconcile them.
Three ingredients, and no oyster sauce
Definition clause 2.1 is one sentence long. It describes a product made from herbs and spices, cut into pieces or ground to a powder, optionally seasoned, then dried. Everything it names:
| Named | Thai | How the standard treats it |
|---|---|---|
| Chilli | พริก | Named in the definition as a herb or spice the product is made from |
| Garlic | กระเทียม | Named in the definition |
| Holy basil leaf | ใบกะเพรา | Named in the definition - the leaf the dish is named after |
| Sugar | น้ำตาล | Named only as an example of an optional seasoning |
| Fish sauce | น้ำปลา | Named only as an example of an optional seasoning |
That is the complete list. Oyster sauce does not appear. Neither does soy sauce, dark soy, long bean, onion, holy basil seed, or any meat. English-language writing about this dish very often treats oyster sauce as the thing that makes a krapow a krapow; the only Thai government document on the subject builds it from chilli, garlic and the leaf, and offers sugar and fish sauce as things a producer may add.
The limit of what this shows. This is a standard for a dried packet mix, and a dried mix cannot contain a wet sauce and still meet a 13 per cent moisture cap. So the absence of oyster sauce is partly a consequence of the format. What the clause does establish, and establish officially, is which three things are the irreducible core of a krapow in the eyes of the Thai state. It is not a claim about what a cook puts in a wok.
Holy basil is a specific plant
The definition names ใบกะเพรา, holy basil leaf, and the register’s English title agrees: Holy Basil Seasoning Paste. This matters more than it sounds, because three different basils are in daily use in Thai kitchens and they are not interchangeable:
- กะเพรา, holy basil — peppery, faintly clove-like. The one named in the standard, and the one the dish is named after.
- โหระพา, Thai sweet basil — anise-scented, the one in green curry. Not named anywhere in this standard.
- แมงลัก, lemon basil — citrus, used in soups. Also not named.
A stir-fry made with sweet basil is a perfectly good plate of food. By name, it is not this dish. This is the single point where an official Thai document is completely unambiguous, so it is worth taking it at face value.
The numbers, and a stricter panel than usual
| What is controlled | The requirement |
|---|---|
| Form | Pieces or powder, dry. If a powder, the components must be evenly mixed through |
| Moisture | No more than 13 per cent by weight |
| Aflatoxin | No more than 20 micrograms per kilogram |
| Total plate count | No more than 10,000 colonies per gram |
| Coliforms (MPN) | Fewer than 3 per gram |
| Yeast and mould | No more than 100 colonies per gram |
| Foreign matter | No hair, soil, sand, gravel, or animal parts or excreta |
The aflatoxin ceiling is the one that tells you what the drafters were worried about. It is the standard mould-toxin limit Thailand applies across its dried chilli products, and it is here because dried chilli is the ingredient in this mix that carries that risk.
The sensory test is unusually demanding for this series. At least five assessors judge appearance, colour and smell independently on a four-point scale, and a batch passes only if every characteristic averages at least 3 across all of them and no single assessor gives anything the bottom score. Most of the dish standards in this family only require the second half of that. Note also that this standard has no food-additives clause at all — it neither permits nor bans colours and preservatives, and a silence is not a permission.
Nobody currently holds a certificate
TISI publishes a register of producers certified against each standard. We queried it on 8 September 2026 and TCPS 496/2547 returns no current certificate holder anywhere in Thailand.
Do not read that as a statement about the dish. Krapow is close to the national default lunch. What the empty register tells you is what this scheme is: a voluntary certification for packaged goods that a small producer chooses to put through it, five years at a time. A shop frying krapow to order at a hundred plates a day was never inside it. The same pattern shows up across this series — khao soi has none either.
What we could not confirm, and did not invent
- The dish. No standard defines pad krapow as cooked food. Nothing official names the minced pork or chicken, the rice, the fried egg, the long bean, or any quantity or cooking time.
- Whether the standard is current. This PDF carries no notification number, date or signature block, unlike the newer standards in the series, so we cannot state when it took effect or whether it has been revised. It is what the register serves today.
- Which spelling is official. The document uses both. We report that rather than pick.
- Additives. The standard has no additives clause. We do not know whether that is a deliberate permission, a deliberate omission or an artefact of its age.
- Whether certification is compulsory for a seller. Still unconfirmed from any official source, as on every other dish page in this series.
- Any heritage listing. ich.culture.go.th still does not resolve, so we make no claim in either direction.
- Prices, and where to eat it. No official source for either, and we do not name restaurants we cannot verify.
Frequently asked questions
For the dish, no. For a dried seasoning mix used to make it, yes - one, and only one. TCPS 496/2547, เครื่องปรุงผัดกะเพรา, carries the English title Holy Basil Seasoning Paste in the register. Its scope clause 1.1 is narrow: it covers only the dried seasoning, packed in a container. Nothing in the Thai Community Product Standard series defines the stir-fry itself - not the pork or chicken, not the rice, not the fried egg on top, not the amount of anything.
Three things, and this is the part worth carrying away. Definition clause 2.1 describes a product made from herbs and spices - it gives chilli, garlic and holy basil leaf as its examples - which may be cut into pieces or ground to a powder, may be seasoned with seasonings such as sugar and fish sauce, and is then dried. That is the whole ingredient statement. Chilli, garlic, holy basil, with sugar and fish sauce offered as optional seasoning. There is no oyster sauce in it. No soy sauce, no dark soy, no long bean, no onion, no sugar as a required element, and no pork. If you have read that a proper krapow is defined by its oyster sauce, the Thai government's only document on the subject does not agree.
Both, inside the same government document, which is the most honest answer anyone can give you. The standard's cover, its running title and its clause headings all use กะเพรา. Its labelling clause 6.1(1), which sets out what a producer may legally print on the packet, gives the permitted product names as เครื่องปรุงผัดกระเพรา and เครื่องผัดกระเพราสำเร็จรูป - with the extra ร. The register's own index entry uses กระเพรา too, which is why the standard is invisible if you search the register for กะเพรา and appears immediately if you search กระเพรา. Thai style guides treat กะเพรา as the correct spelling of the plant. The document that would settle the argument contains both spellings and does not comment on the difference.
No, and the standard is specific: it names ใบกะเพรา, holy basil. That is a different plant from โหระพา, Thai sweet basil, which is the anise-scented one used in green curry, and different again from แมงลัก, lemon basil. The register's English title for the standard is Holy Basil Seasoning Paste, so TISI's own translation agrees. A stir-fry made with sweet basil is a real and pleasant thing, but by the name it is not krapow, and this is the one point on which an official Thai document is unambiguous.
It is a dried-product specification, so the numbers are about drying and storage. Moisture is capped at 13 per cent by weight. Aflatoxin is capped at 20 micrograms per kilogram, which is the same ceiling Thailand applies to its dried chilli-based products generally and reflects that dried chilli is the mould-risk ingredient here. The microbiological limits are 10,000 colonies per gram total plate count, fewer than 3 coliforms per gram, and 100 colonies per gram of yeast and mould. There is no additives clause in this standard at all - unlike the 2565-era standards, it neither permits nor prohibits colours and preservatives, and we are not going to read a permission or a ban into a silence.
By a panel and a scale, and this standard is stricter than most of its siblings. At least five assessors examine the sample independently, pouring it into a white ceramic dish and judging general appearance, colour and smell on a four-point scale from ดีมาก, very good, down to ต้องปรับปรุง, needs improvement. To pass, every characteristic must average at least 3 across all assessors and no single assessor may give any characteristic the bottom score. Several other Thai dish standards only require that nobody scores a 1; requiring an average of 3 as well is a meaningfully higher bar.
Nowhere, at the moment. We queried the certificate register on 8 September 2026 and TCPS 496/2547 has no current certificate holder anywhere in the country. That is not a statement about how much krapow Thailand eats - it is close to the national dish by volume. It tells you that this scheme certifies packaged goods a small producer chooses to put through it, and that nobody is currently doing so for this particular dried mix. A shop cooking krapow to order is not in this scheme and never was.
Related guides
- Khao man gai — the other everyday one-plate lunch, where the sauce is standardised and the plate is not.
- Som tam — the dressing standard, and the pla ra clause behind it.
- Larb — the nine-spice larb powder standard.
- Gaeng som — fingerroot, turmeric, and no coconut milk.
- Thai street food — how ordering actually works, including how to ask for it less spicy.
- Thai regional food — how the four regional kitchens differ.
- Living in Bangkok — where this plate is on every corner, all night.
- Food delivery apps — the single most-ordered dish on all of them.
A fifty-baht lunch is a real line in the monthly arithmetic
If the food is part of why you are considering this, the next question is what a month actually costs.
Sources & References
- Thai Industrial Standards Institute, Ministry of Industry - Thai Community Product Standard TCPS 496/2547, Holy Basil Seasoning Paste (Khrueang Prung Phat Kaphrao). Its scope clause 1.1 covers only dried seasoning packed in a container. Its definition clause 2.1 describes a product made from herbs and spices such as chilli, garlic and holy basil leaf, which may be cut into pieces or ground to a powder and may be seasoned with seasonings such as sugar and fish sauce, then dried. Clause 3.5 caps moisture at 13 per cent by weight, clause 3.6 caps aflatoxin at 20 micrograms per kilogram, and clause 3.7 sets microbiological ceilings of 10,000 colonies per gram total plate count, fewer than 3 coliforms per gram by the MPN method and 100 colonies per gram of yeast and mould. The document's title and body spell the dish กะเพรา while its labelling clause 6.1(1) spells it กระเพรา
- Thai Industrial Standards Institute - the public register of published community product standards, queried directly on 8 September 2026. Searching the spelling กะเพรา returns no standard at all; searching the spelling กระเพรา returns exactly one, 496/2547, whose register entry is titled เครื่องปรุงผัดกระเพรา with the English title Holy Basil Seasoning Paste. No standard in the register defines the stir-fried dish, and searching มัสมั่น for massaman returns nothing
- Thai Industrial Standards Institute - the public register of certified community producers, queried directly on 8 September 2026. Against TCPS 496/2547 it returns no current certificate holder anywhere in Thailand
Primary and official sources are cited above. Government rules, fees and procedures in Thailand change over time and vary by office; always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority before relying on them. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
