Joint Work with EU Underway on Food Safety

Dried Fruit Sector Working with European Union on Food Safety

Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association intensified cooperation steps with the European Union to increase quality and food safety.

Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association is working to increase yield, quality and food safety of nutrient-dense superfoods where Turkey is a world leader in production and exports, and traditional export products including seedless dried grapes, dried apricots and dried figs. Officials from the European Commission Health and Food Safety Directorate-General and the Ministry of Agriculture from Ankara paid a visit to the Association's General Secretariat on 25 May.

Meeting Held with European Commission Health and Food Safety Directorate-General Participation

At the meeting held with the participation of the European Commission Health and Food Safety Directorate-General, President of the Ecology Agriculture Organization Association Prof. Dr. Uygun Aksoy and Agriculture 1 Sectors Manager of Aegean Exporters Associations Ece Tırkaz made presentations. The meeting was attended by Coordinator Chairman of Aegean Exporters Associations Jak Eskinazi, Chairman of the Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Associations Sector Board of Turkey Osman Öz, Chairman of the Board of Management of Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association Mehmet Ali Işık, Vice Chairman of the Board of Management of Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association Yusuf Gabay, and Member of the Board of Management of Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association Birol Celep. Mehmet Ali Işık, Chairman of the Board of Management of Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Association, made statements. Işık said; "The European Commission Health and Food Safety Directorate-General is conducting a mission visit to our country between 20 May – 6 June 2022 to evaluate existing control systems for aflatoxin contamination in pistachios and dried figs exported to the EU and ochratoxin in dried figs. The main purpose of the EU delegation is to inspect the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the system here."

70 Thousand Tons of 100 Thousand Tons Production Being Exported

Noting that dried fig is a prestige product of Turkey, Işık stated that only the Sarılop variety is grown on these lands and sent to the world, and that 70 thousand tons of 100 thousand tons production is exported. Işık said; "We continue our sustainability efforts to feed this healthy product to the entire world in a healthy manner. As the Association, through joint work with other institutions, universities, research institutes, the fig research institute, provincial and district agricultural organizations, commodity exchanges, chambers of agriculture and chambers of commerce, we continue our sustainability efforts in the supply chain extending from farmers to shelves."

"We Have a Duty to Tell This Product and These Lands to Future Generations"

Sharing that infrastructure work carried out with farmers regarding sustainability in the supply chain started with land and continued with collection, drying, storage, improvement of production stages in enterprises and market work, Işık said; "We will continue our efforts by eliminating the differences brought about by global warming and climate differences. This is our country's greatest mission. We have a duty to tell this product and these lands, which are mentioned in history books and holy scriptures, to future generations."

EU Delegation to Conduct Inspections in İzmir, Aydın and Gaziantep

Işık conveyed that they gave a presentation to the EU delegation explaining the Association and their work on dried figs, and continued; "The delegation will conduct inspections in İzmir, Aydın and Gaziantep as part of the programme. They held a meeting at the Provincial Agricultural Directorate on 23 May. They also wanted to see how the Ministry conducts inspections at an enterprise, so they visited Rapunzel and Işık Agriculture enterprises. Today they will visit the laboratory of Aydın Chamber of Commerce and the Fig Research Institute will be visited. On Friday there will be a visit to Osman Akça enterprise and farmer visits. From there they will proceed to Gaziantep."

"Decarbonization Process, Food Safety, Sustainability, Good Agricultural Practices Are Our Priority Areas"

Emphasizing that they carry out exports worth 1.6 billion dollars to nearly 170 countries worldwide, Mehmet Ali Işık stated, "European Union countries and the USA come to the fore in our exports. The decarbonization process occurring within the scope of the European Union Green Deal, food safety, sustainability, good agricultural practices are our priority areas. Our efforts continue with our Ministry, our Association and our stakeholders for higher quality and value-added production and export of dried grapes, dried apricots and dried figs, both so that farmers receive the return for their labour and so that production is made in line with buyers' expectations."