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On April 27, 2022, the Turkish Government published new Biosafety Decision approvals for the import
of genetically engineered (GE) soybean and corn. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MinAF)
approved two new soybean events and two new corn events for feed and cancelled the approvals of three corn events and one soybean event. MinAF also approved the production of an enzyme using
Aspergillus oryzae improved by modern biotechnological methods. These actions leave the “total”
number of GE approvals in Turkey at 36.
Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Approves Four More Biotech Events and GE
Aspergillus oryzae – Keeps Total Number at 36…
Under the Turkish Biosafety Law, approvals for biotechnology events automatically expire after 10
years, and a new application must be made to renew the events. Based on this requirement, MinAF
cancelled the approval of one GE stacked corn event (59122XNK603) which expired on 4/21/2022 by
the decision published in the Official Gazette on April 27, 2022. MinAF also cancelled the approvals of
one soybean stacked event (MON87701XMON89788) and two corn stacked events
(MON863XMON810 and MON863XNK603) all three of which were approved in 2015.
MiNAF approved two new soybean events (MON87751 and DAS-81419-2) and two new corn events
(MON87411 and MZIR098) in the scope of same decision package.
MinAF also approved the production of the phytase enzyme for industrial usage purposes by using
Aspergillus oryzae improved by using modern biotechnological methods on April 27, 2022. The Unique
Identity Code (UIC) given for Aspergillus oryzae is LIVZ-104. Official controls of the enzyme are subject to the rules of Law no. 5996 on Veterinary Services, Phytosanitary, Food, and Feed, which is enforced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
As a result of these new approvals and cancellations, currently, there are still a total of 36 approved
GE events for feed in Turkey.
The newest approval and cancellation decisions may be accessed through the link to Turkish Official
Gazette published on April 27, 2022 in the Turkish language at:
https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2022/04/20220427-8.pdf
For detailed information on Turkey’s biosafety policies, please refer to the Agricultural Biotechnology
Annual Report-2021for Turkey dated October 13, 2021 at the link https://gain.fas.usda.gov/#/search .
