Türkiye’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has added 49 new entries to its public list of adulterated and unsafe foods, including a sausage sold as beef sucuk that was found to contain pork, according to the updated list dated 27 October and reported by Memurlar.net, Cumhuriyet and Türkiye Eğitim. The update was also among Hürriyet’s top stories on Wednesday morning.
The ministry publishes the names of producers and brands whose products fail official laboratory tests on its food safety portal, guvenilirgida.tarimorman.gov.tr, under the ‘Güvenilir Gıda’ (safe food) system, Cumhuriyet reported.
What was added
Of the 49 new entries, 10 were listed as foods that endanger health, 28 as imitation or adulterated foods and 11 as products lacking an essential component, Memurlar.net and Türkiye Eğitim reported. Meat and meat products accounted for 24 entries and milk and dairy products for 14.
The main findings reported were:
– Pork in one product sold as beef sucuk, a business in Serdivan, Sakarya, according to Cumhuriyet. – Horse or donkey meat (meat from single-hoofed animals) in six meat products, including sucuk dough, raw minced beef and kavurma, with businesses in Kayseri, Balıkesir, Bursa and Kahramanmaraş among those named, per Cumhuriyet. – Poultry meat and offal in minced meat, köfte, and lahmacun and pide fillings. – Seed oils mixed into four products sold as olive oil; Cumhuriyet cited one labelled cold-pressed from Büyükçekmece, Istanbul. – A medicinal active ingredient in one chocolate product, and a dye not permitted in food in two spice products, including an unlabelled purple spice from Çorum. – Adulteration in three honey products and vegetable oil in three dairy products.
Kaşar cheese and fat content
Five kaşar cheeses were found to contain emulsifying (melting) salts, which the Turkish Food Codex cheese communiqué does not allow in kaşar production, Memurlar.net reported. Several butters and cheeses also had fat content below the legal minimum.
Other provinces named in reports on the update included Mersin, Kars, Nevşehir and Aksaray. The reports did not mention penalties for the businesses listed.
Sources
- Yeni Taklit ve Tağşiş Listesi Açıklandı: Sucukta At ve Domuz Eti Çıktı (Memurlar.net)
- Bakanlık listeyi güncelledi: Dana sucukta domuz eti çıktı (Cumhuriyet)
- Tağşiş Listesine 49 Ürün Eklendi: Sucukta At ve Domuz Eti Çıktı (Türkiye Eğitim)
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Rainer Zenz assumed … / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
