Ministry rolls out QR code system for food safety

ANKARA

The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry has launched a new QR code application in food enterprises, aimed at enhancing food safety monitoring across Türkiye.

The initiative will allow consumers to easily access inspection status reports of food businesses, encouraging safer food practices.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı emphasized that the system facilitates transparency and consumer confidence by enabling the public to view inspection details via QR codes displayed by food enterprises. “We ask all our citizens to look for this QR code showing the inspection details of our ministry in food production, sales and mass consumption places,” he said.

Yumaklı highlighted that while the application is voluntary, it is expected to be widely adopted by businesses due to its potential to build consumer trust.

“Businesses will share this application with our citizens as an indicator of whether it is accredited. We are in close communication with the food and beverage units and councils of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye. We invited the relevant units of the enterprises and introduced this application to them,” he explained.

Yumaklı stressed the importance of food safety as a fundamental right of every citizen and noted the application’s role in reinforcing this principle. “Therefore, it is important for businesses related to food to share their audit details with their customers by using this QR code.”

According to Yumaklı, there are close to 776,000 food businesses in Türkiye, and the majority are expected to adopt this practice promptly.

“More advanced versions of this will also be created,” Yumaklı added.

Meanwhile, Alp Önder Özpamukçu, a sector representative, voiced support for the initiative and stated that it would help combat food fraud and sure product authenticity. “Our members started the application as of July. The QR codes that can be queried are located at the visible point of the stores,” he stated.

Consumer rights representative Ergün Kılıç also praised the initiative, noting its role in protecting consumers from counterfeit and adulterated products.

“Physical inspections at points of sale may not be sufficient. We hear about the high number of product counterfeits and that the same fraudulent companies are constantly changing their names. This information is also available on the website of the ministry.”

Kılıç also said that the application allows consumers to use their right to information and added, "However, if the software includes the ministry's data classified by districts and provinces, it will become meaningful.”