IMITATION AND ADULTERATION IN FOODS

The continuity of human life absolutely depends on the existence of healthy food products. The fact that the world has limited resources and human needs are unlimited, and the human population is increasing day by day in the world, increases the importance of healthy and safe food. Today, due to the development of technology, the increase in food prices, the increase in competition between food companies and economic reasons, imitation and adulteration in food have increased considerably. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, with the authority granted by the Veterinary Services, Plant Health, Food and Feed Law No. 5996, carries out official controls and sanctions related to all stages of production, processing and distribution of food, food contact substances and materials and feed. According to the relevant law; Imitation: It is defined as the representation of products within the scope of this Law as having features that do not exist in their structure in terms of their shape, composition and qualities or as if they were the same as another product, Adulteration: It is the removal of all or part of the elements and nutritional values that give the basic characteristics of the products within the scope of this Law in violation of the legislation or the change of their amount or the addition of another substance that does not have the same value instead of that substance as if it were the same substance. According to the 4th paragraph of Article 31 of this Law and Article 8 of the Regulation on Official Controls of Food and Feed, there is a provision that the name, product name, brand, batch and/or serial number of the company producing/importing food and feed, especially those whose imitation and adulteration have been confirmed by laboratory results, can be shared with the public on the official website of the Ministry. According to the current data, it is observed that some companies continue to imitate and adulterate despite being announced to the public many times due to the inadequacy of sanctions. In order to increase the deterrent effect of the sanctions applied to companies that imitate and adulterate food in Turkey, it would be appropriate to amend the relevant legislation and increase administrative fines, determine these fines by taking into account the annual turnover of food businesses, impose judicial penalties and, in the event of a repetition of the act, to ban the operator from operating in the food sector. In addition to the meticulous implementation of sanctions in this regard being the responsibility of the public authority, it is also extremely important for consumers, other institutions and organizations, universities and relevant to participate in the work in terms of individuals' access to healthy food in our country.