Food fraudsters to be made public again

ANKARA

Food safety is the government's red line, Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı announced, emphasizing that a new effort to crack down on food fraudsters who jeopardize citizens' health will begin on Oct. 1.

According to Yumaklı, the Agriculture Ministry is entering a new era to control every step of food from the field to the table and ensure that citizens have access to reliable food. Yumaklı stated that the ministry is responsible for food, which is the most basic need of people, and that they are interested in the safety of products as well as agricultural production, emphasizing that food safety is their red line.

“We conduct an average of 1.3 million food inspections per year,” the minister said.

“In addition to routine inspections, we also conduct sectoral inspections. In 2024, we have carried out 854,694 inspections so far. As a result, administrative fines were imposed on 14,237 businesses and criminal complaints were filed against 339 businesses.”

Yumaklı recalled an operation that was organized last week in Ankara against a factory that produced honey in violation of the labeling regulations, endangering human health.

"Finally, a serious operation was carried out against those who counterfeit honey, such operations will continue,” he said.

“There are some criticisms on this issue, such as ‘Why are the food companies that commit fraud not made public?’ We will remove this question from Türkiye’s agenda. We will announce the details to the public from Oct. 1. We will not tolerate those who play with the health of our people.”

In the fake honey operation in Ankara, 8,150 tons of glucose, fructose and sugar and 100,000 honey labels of different brands worth 900 million Turkish Liras were seized and a judicial investigation was launched against six suspects.

Following this incident, the publication of the list of counterfeit and fake products has come back on the agenda. The last time the ministry announced companies confirmed to have counterfeit or adulterated products was in March 2022. At that time, the ministry had published 559 batches of products from 371 companies, including meat and meat products, milk and dairy products, vegetable oil, honey, enriched foods, chocolate and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

The investigations revealed the names, product names, trademarks and serial numbers of companies that manufacture or sell products that have been tampered with, altered or falsified in such a way as to endanger people's lives and health.