EU Requirements for Food Safety and Quality Systems in Turkey: Determinants of Perceptions

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is one of Turkey’s most important trade partners. A large number of Turkish agri-food processors, however, are still unable to produce in accordance with the EU specifications. Furthermore, it is uncertain how Turkish food producers perceive the EU regulations. Based on a questionnaire survey of 99 Turkish agri-food enterprises from various industry subsectors and a conceptual framework including knowledge, personal and economic perspectives, this article assesses perceptions of the EU requirements regarding food safety and quality systems in the Turkish agri-food industry. The results indicate that those perceptions vary widely among the processors depending on education level, firm size, and legal form of ownership. Moreover, subjective information related to the perceptions regarding advantages, requirements, and costs of food safety and quality practices significantly contributes to the perceptions examined. The findings have manifold implications which should be taken into account when adapting Turkish legislation to reflect EU regulations.

Keywords:

• Food safety and quality
• perceptions
• Turkey
• the EU requirements

Note

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 According to the new Turkish Trade Law (TTK, No. 6102 by 13.01.2011), joint stock company companies have no limitation on the number of owners. Furthermore, the threshold of establishment capital is fixed at Turkish Lira (TRY) 50,000 plus 100,000 as the minimum registered capital. Limited liability companies are characterized by limited number of partners (up to 50 persons), and requirements for equity capital by TRY 10,000 (Official Gazette, 2011).