Turkish dairy and shellfish controls monitored by the European Commission

The European Commission’s Health and Safety Unit has published two reports on Turkey on dairy products and a follow-up audit on controls on bivalve molluscs.

The milk audit, carried out by DG Sante in September 2023, was largely positive, but four recommendations were made.

Turkey is allowed to send dairy products to the EU that require risk-reducing treatment against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the EU’s export volume (including ice cream with milk fats) amounted to 2,400 tons in 2021 and 6,398 tons in 2022.

Two dairy establishments visited by the audit team, where EU eligible products received from other locations were stored and traded, were not on the list of EU cold stores. Turkish officials said the issue would be addressed.

A notice in late 2023 stated that if dairy products intended for export to Europe are stored in an EU-approved dairy establishment other than where they are produced, the location where the storage takes place must also receive EU approval as a cold storage facility.

Featured Findings
At the time of the audit, there were 194 EU-certified cattle farms, three of which were suspended because they had exceeded license plate limits or because no results were available during an inspection by local authorities.

Regarding the microbial criteria, in some establishments visited, drains were not included in the sampling plans for the detection of Listeria. There were also problems with the number of product samples taken for testing, sometimes one instead of the five required by EU rules and Turkish law.

Product labels in some cases did not have allergens marked in the English version.

During the period 2020-2022, 132 dairy samples (ready-to-use milk and dairy products, milk and whey powders, butter, cheese and ice cream containing milk fats) were taken in establishments on the EU export list and tested for Listeria monocytogenes . 560 for Salmonella and 417 for staphylococcal enterotoxins. No pathogens or staphylococcal enterotoxins were found.

In one case, the EU export certificate issued contained a shipment produced with raw milk that was not eligible for the EU. Turkish authorities have stopped the site from exporting from the EU, opened an investigation and said corrective action will be taken.

Auditors also found that certification officers are not necessarily familiar with the situation in the EU-listed companies for which they issue export certificates. Turkish authorities said local bodies had been instructed to ensure the participation of official veterinarians dealing with the certification of dairy products for the EU in routine inspections carried out by control officers of the Food and Feed Department of the provincial directorates. Training on certification requirements for official veterinarians issuing dairy export certificates to the EU was also planned for 2024.

Shellfish monitoring
The audit of bivalve molluscs in May and June 2023 followed a visit in 2021 to evaluate the control system on products intended for export to Europe. Six recommendations were made during the previous visit, and the 2023 audit focused on one that was considered the most critical.

Turkey cannot export live bivalve molluscs to the EU, but it can export frozen and processed molluscs. All consignments of bivalve molluscs must be tested at EU border control points for both E. coli in frozen bivalve molluscs and biotoxins in frozen and processed molluscs. Recently updated EU rules mean the restrictions will apply until December 2026.

In 2022, Turkey exported 6,100 tons of frozen and processed bivalve molluscs and 142 tons of sea urchins to the EU.

The report concluded that authorities had made significant progress since the previous audit.

While official controls have identified and addressed non-compliance in some cases, they remain largely reactive. There are also shortcomings in identifying certain significant non-compliances in food safety requirements and in the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system.

“As a result, some companies approved for export to the EU still exhibit critical structural and food safety deficiencies. This poses a food safety risk to the products exported from these locations,” auditors said.

DG Sante said the key recommendation from the 2021 audit remains unresolved due to gaps and shortcomings in the implementation of controls. This means that the system does not provide the necessary compliance guarantees for the export of bivalve molluscs to the EU.

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