In a letter received from the İzmir Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Türkiye, it is stated that an amendment was made to the Turkish Food Codex Regulation on Food Labelling and Consumer Information on April 6, 2024, taking consumer sensitivities into consideration. Pursuant to Article 48 of the Regulation, which states, ''Where deemed necessary, instructions or guidelines to be prepared for the implementation of the provisions of this Regulation shall be published on the Ministry's website. Food business operators are also required to comply with the provisions set out in the guidelines prepared in relation to the provisions of this Regulation,'' food business operators are required to comply with the provisions of the Guidelines.
To access the Guidelines, please CLICK HERE.
Article 41 of the same Guidelines states: ''At mass catering establishments, the name of any food must be provided together with information on allergens, alcohol and ingredients of porcine origin, where present in the composition of the food. Food business operators are required to inform consumers about the ingredients and energy value of foods offered to consumers at mass catering establishments.
Information on the ingredients and energy value of foods at mass catering establishments may be provided through menus, notice boards, brochures, QR codes, digital screens and similar means, in a manner that is clearly legible and easily visible to consumers. Where this information is provided via a QR code, written information must be displayed in a location easily visible to consumers, stating that the information can be accessed via the QR code and that, upon request, the information will be provided to consumers who do not have a device capable of scanning the QR code.'' Accordingly, the mandatory information to be provided at mass catering establishments is specified in Article 41, while the applicable compliance deadlines are set out in Article 47 of the Guidelines.
Mass catering establishments are required to comply with the provisions introduced under Article 41 of the Guidelines within the following deadlines:
- For mass catering establishments operating as nationwide chains: by July 1, 2026,
- For mass catering establishments with three or more branches operating solely within the boundaries of the same province: by December 31, 2026,
- For all other mass catering establishments: by December 31, 2026, for ingredient declarations, and by December 31, 2027, for energy value declarations.
In order to avoid any issues during official controls, the information regarding compliance with the amendments to the Regulation and Guidelines is submitted for your information.
Kind regards,
İzmir Commodity Exchange
