In our country, organic agricultural activities are carried out under contract with Control bodies authorized in organic farming by Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, within the scope of the Organic Agriculture Law No. 5262 and the Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Agriculture published in the Official Gazette No. 27676.
As stated in ‘Turkish Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Farming’ published in the Official Gazette No. 27676, ARTICLE 2 – (1) Scope;
This Regulation covers the technical and administrative issues related to the production or supply of all types of plant, animal and aquaculture products and the inputs to be used, in compliance with the organic farming method, the yeasts used as food or feed, the collection of products from forests and natural areas in accordance with the principles of organic farming, the processing, packaging, labeling, storage, transportation, marketing, control, certification, inspection of these products, and the penal provisions.
European Union Regulation (EU) 2018/848 Annex III ‘Harvesting, Packaging, Transport and Storage of Products’ specifically addresses the acceptance/receipt of products. Accordingly, Annex III, Article 5 Acceptance of products: When an organic or in-conversion product is received, the operator shall, where appropriate, check that the packaging, container or vehicle has been closed and that the necessary indications are present during packaging of the products and their transport to other operators or units.
Article 36-Control Operation (1) (ç-d-e) of the Turkish Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Farming, published in the Official Gazette No. 27676, contains provisions regarding sample collection. Accordingly: Control bodies authorized to carry out inspections shall: ç) Take samples for analysis to detect the use of products not permitted for organic production, to detect production techniques that are not in compliance with organic production rules, and to detect possible contamination with products not permitted for organic production….
In case of non-compliance/violation of organic farming rules, control and certification bodies apply sanctions to the operator. The non-compliances leading to sanctions and the sanction categories are explained below with examples based on regulations.
In cases where operators change their control and certification body for various reasons, both the operator and the control and certification body have responsibilities to fulfill. Below, the issues related to changing the control and certification body will be addressed on the basis of regulations under different scenarios.
In order to prevent the risk of contamination from substances not allowed in organic farming originating from non-organic agricultural lands adjacent to organic production areas, it is very important to take necessary measures at the bordering rows of organic land that are at risk of contamination, to preserve the integrity of organic products.
According to ‘Article 4 – Definitions of the Turkish Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Farming’ published in the Official Gazette No. 27676;
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO): A living organism, other than humans, obtained by transferring genes using modern biotechnological methods.
Organic mushroom production is explained in the “Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Farming” published in the Official Gazette No. 27676, under the second section titled “Plant Production, Mushroom and Yeast Production by Organic Farming Method.”
Published in the Official Gazette No. 27676, ‘Turkish Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Farming, ARTICLE 2 –
