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Press release…
Akhisar Commodity Exchange President Alper Alhat called on the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization to exclude Olive Oil from GEKAP.
The Regulation on Recycling Participation Share (GEKAP) published by the General Directorate of Environmental Management of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization entered into force. Although the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry evaluates olive oil and other vegetable oils in different “communiqués”, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization evaluates olive oil as if it is in the same category with other vegetable oils, which attracted the industry’s reaction.
Akhisar (a district of Manisa province) Commodity Exchange Chairman Alper Alhat said that this situation creates an unjustified additional cost for the olive oil sector.
Alhat said, “GEKAP is a tax imposed in order to fund the costs required for the reuse (recovery) of products that have lost their function after being used. Olive oil does not have any use within this scope.”
The project is correct but…
Pointing out that restaurants and other industrial type “deep fried” businesses mostly use palm oil derivatives and partially other vegetable oils as frying oil, Alhat explained, “There are many benefits of collecting these oils used in industrial frying and bringing them back to the economy. The project is essentially correct and useful. But there is no use of olive oil in a style and size to be included in this scope.”
“Limited use in frying”
Emphasizing that olive oil has the potential to be a good frying oil with its high content of oleic acid, Alhat noted, “But its use in frying is very limited due to its high price and the prejudice of ‘no frying with olive oil’, which is a false belief among the people.”
Stating that frying is done in two ways as deep frying and pan frying, Alhat added, “Even if frying with olive oil is done at home, it is made in the form of frying with a small amount of oil and the pan is served as it is and almost no oil is separated.”
“Save us from this burden”
“As a result, olive oil is consumed in our country just like butter for breakfast and by being added to the meal. In this context, we want olive oil to be excluded from the scope of GEKAP just like butter. Therefore olive oil, which is already at a cost disadvantage compared to other vegetable oils, should be saved from this burden that it does not deserve.”
