"Food Inspection Mobilization" Launched

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry launches 3-day "Food Inspection Campaign". ANKARA (AA) - Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli stated that inspections will be carried out with 7,300 food inspectors across 81 provinces until 28 October, saying: "The best inspector is the consumer himself. Our consumers must report to us any suspicions, concerns or bad situations they directly encounter related to food." Speaking at the Directorate General of Forestry about the "Food Inspection Campaign", Pakdemirli said they have launched a food inspection campaign to maintain consumer health at the highest level as the ministry solely responsible for food safety. Noting that inspections continue 365 days a year, Pakdemirli said they periodically conduct such campaigns in addition to this.

Pakdemirli, stating that they continue inspections with a total of 7,300 control personnel and strong infrastructure, continued as follows:

"We have 41 public and 104 private laboratories. These inspections cover both production and sales as well as restaurants, cafés and similar mass consumption points. There are 720,000 registered food businesses in Turkey. All of them are under control in some way. With this personnel we conducted 1,216,000 inspections in 2019. During the pandemic period we continued these inspections at increased rates. In 2020 we conducted 1,357,000 inspections." Emphasizing that they adopt principles such as risk-based inspections, unannounced visits and inspections in cases of suspicion or report, Pakdemirli stated that inspections related to foreign trade continue within the Food and Control Directorate General.

Deputy ministers will also accompany inspections

Pakdemirli underlined that depending on the business turnover, they employ administrative fines ranging from TRY 50,000 to TRY 2,000,000, criminal fines, imprisonment or professional bans. Noting that as a result the number of food-related problems encountered in the market continues to decrease, Pakdemirli explained that they conduct campaign inspections to inform and guide businesses in the public sphere.

"Strong infrastructure and inspector force"

Pakdemirli emphasized that they will carry out these inspections with 7,300 food inspectors across 81 provinces on 25-28 October, saying they will share the results transparently with the public.