Survey 2016 of the Residue Situation in Turkish Organic Products

Summary

Since December 2011, ETO and FiBL are jointly implementing the German-Turkish Bilateral Cooperation - Organic Agriculture. The overall aim of this project is to effectively and efficiently ensure the quality of Turkish organic food produced for the European market. Information from a representative sample of selected private operators of the organic supply chains together with official data from competent authorities about unwanted residues detected in organic products from Turkey have been determined as a major indicator for the extent of reaching the project aim. For this reason, a survey was conducted in late 2013 among German and Turkish trading companies, control bodies and the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE). The study concluded that 50 % of respondents believed that the residue situation had improved significantly since 2011. Moreover, the EU's Rapid Alert System for 2013 showed no abnormalities for Turkish organic products. Interviews during the GFA project progress audit in Turkey in June 2015 confirmed the significant reduction of residue findings and of other suspected cases in Turkish imported organic products. To hedge these findings, a further opinion poll among Central European and Turkish trading companies and institutions was carried out in the present exit phase of the project (early 2016). The same questions were used in both surveys. However, minor changes were made in 2016, to adjust to the different project phase. The objective of the second survey was to collect up-to-date data which can be used for the performance review of the project and for developments beyond the scope of the project. The second survey covered the years 2014 – 15 (after the improvement measures of the project were implemented). As a reference, the year 2011 (before the project activities were started) was also included in the second survey.