Ban on pomegranate sauces on the way

ISTANBUL

The sale of artificially flavored pomegranate sauces that give the impression of pure pomegranate syrup will be banned in Türkiye as of June 30, 2024.

On March 24, the regulation amending the Turkish Food Codex prepared by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry was published in the Official Gazette.

According to the regulation, no food ingredient other than pomegranate, pomegranate juice, pomegranate juice concentrate and water can be added in pomegranate syrup.

In this context, products that are not allowed to be supplied to the domestic market will not be available on the market after June 30, 2024.

While it is stated that these sauces are widely used especially with çiğ köfte sellers, there are concerns that imitation and adulteration may occur as a result of the ban.

Gürhan Güven, CEO of Fersan, announced that they will request a meeting with food associations regarding this decision.

Pointing out that pomegranate sauces are a popular product, Güven said that instead of banning this product, a decision could have been taken to inform consumers that these products are not 100 percent pomegranate syrup.

Abdussamed Boyu, President of the Food Engineers Association, stated that many products that do not contain any pomegranate are shown and sold as pomegranate syrup and this will be prevented with the decision.

Boyu said that the flavored products contain high levels of glucose syrup and people need to gain the habit of reading product labels.