Turkey slams door shut on GM food

The move represents a further victory for Greenpeace Mediterranean, which has been orchestrating a campaign to push for all applications for GM foodstuffs to be abandoned.

Unak Gida handles many different areas of ingredients, including milk and soy protein, preservatives and stabilizers.

“Ünak Gida agreed on, and publicly announced via their Facebook page, the withdrawal of their GM soy application too,”​ Tarık Nejat Dinç, agricultural campaigner for Greenpeace Mediterranean, told FoodNavigator.

No single GM foodstuff application left​

“As a result there is currently no single GM foodstuff application left. Which means there is no single GM foodstuff approval made in Turkey, and this situation does not seem [likely] to change in the near future as well.”​

The development follows last week’s decision by food industry trade group the Federation of Food and Drink Industry Associations of Turkey (TGDF) to drop an application to import 29 kinds of GM organism. This was also made in the wake of Greenpeace’s ‘Yemezler’ (‘We do not buy it’) consumer campaign.

TGDF specifically cited public opinion and the unfavourable reaction caused by non-governmental organisations as the prime motivator behind the decision.