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Türkiye, one of the leading countries in world pasta production, is experiencing a ‘durum’ crisis. It is stated that some manufacturers use ‘bread wheat’ instead of ‘durum wheat’ in production in order to provide cost advantage. Stating that these companies gain a price advantage of 15 to 20 percent, sector representatives argue that this situation reduces the quality, misleads consumers and leads to unfair competition.
Türkiye, which ranks third in production and second in exports in the world pasta market, faces quality risk due to cost opportunists. Recently, the agenda of the sector has been occupied with the information that some producers use ‘bread wheat’ flour and some additives instead of ‘durum wheat’ in order to reduce costs and ramp up profits. Sector representatives explain that these producers gain a price advantage of 15 to 20 percent in their costs in this way and point out that this situation reduces the quality and causes unfair competition.
Speaking to Hürriyet Daily, Nihat Uysallı, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pasta Producers and Industrialists Association (MÜSAD), said, “According to the legal legislation in our country, pasta must be produced from 100 percent durum wheat, but unfortunately, there are companies that change and break this. The cost advantage of the producers who do this varies between 15-20 percent. Unfortunately, the work did not stop there, we are witnessing that some additives have been used recently in addition to bread wheat.”
Explaining that they see the use of bread wheat and additives in production as a fundamental problem due to the price advantage, Uysallı warned, “Producing pasta from bread wheat instead of durum wheat reduces the quality, misleads our consumers and causes unfair competition.”
MINISTRY DEVELOPES AN ANALYSIS METHOD…
So, is this game in pasta, which is one of the important foodstuffs consumed by the public, only talked about in the sector or are measures being taken? The sector authorities to whom we addressed the question did not give too much detail, but emphasized that the issue is on the radar of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The following information was included in the response, “Our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has developed and started to implement a very accurate and accredited analysis method. It will be implemented all over the country in a very short time. Therefore, the problem in this regard will be solved to a great extent.”
By Arzu Kurum,
Source: hurriyet.com.tr
