No tolerance for imitation and adulteration in food.

The Director of the Manisa Provincial Agriculture and Forestry, Metin Öztürk, made statements regarding food inspections conducted to ensure food safety in Manisa. In his statement, Öztürk said, “We are the followers of reliable food. We will continue to announce imitation and adulteration cases.”

In his statement, Öztürk mentioned, “As the Manisa Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, inspections are conducted for businesses concerning the production, processing, and distribution stages of food, materials that come into contact with food, and animal feed, under the Veterinary Services, Plant Health, Food, and Feed Law No. 5996 and related regulations. These inspections are part of the official control and sanctions framework aimed at protecting consumer health and ensuring the supply of reliable food and feed. Various reasons such as risk-based routine inspections by our Ministry, complaints to Cimer, complaints made to the Alo Food 174 hotline, inspections based on Sample Collection Plans, inspections conducted under the Rapid Alert System (RASFF), simultaneous sector-based inspections, and HACCP audit inspections are carried out by food control officers. As a Ministry, our primary goal regarding food safety is to protect consumer health at the highest level; therefore, in our province, 21,859 inspections were carried out in 2024 for 18,763 food and feed businesses with the support of 216 control officers, and our inspections are ongoing. Samples are taken based on risk assessment for various product groups to protect consumer health and ensure the supply of reliable food at all stages of the food production and sales chain. In 2024, 2,757 samples were taken, and our inspection and sampling processes continue. Under the Law No. 5996, the name of the company producing/importing food confirmed to be imitated or adulterated by laboratory results, product name, brand, batch and/or serial number, as well as the details of individuals or companies producing and/or selling foods that are spoiled and altered in a way that endangers public health will be announced to the public. The website guvenilirgida.tarimorman.gov.tr, which has started for Reliable Food, will transparently present the situations encountered as a result of inspections throughout the year to the citizens. To ensure that consumers have quick and up-to-date access to information, instant notifications about foods that could pose health risks and foods that have been imitated or adulterated will be announced to the public on the website guvenilirgida.tarimorman.gov.tr.”

Öztürk concluded his statement as follows: “Our food inspections will continue intensively to ensure that our people have access to reliable food. The disclosure processes for foods that could endanger human health and those that are subject to imitation and adulteration will be shared with the public. We thank all organizations and media representatives that support us in our food inspections aimed at ensuring food safety.”