EU Border Controls on Food from Turkey: How Importers Should Plan
Turkey is one of the EU's most important suppliers of fruit, vegetables, nuts and dried fruit. It is also one of the origins most frequently mentioned in EU border notifications, mostly for pesticide residues and mycotoxins. A rejection at the border is costly; most are preventable.
Increased official controls
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 lists food and feed from specific countries that face a higher frequency of identity and physical checks at the EU border, and in some cases special conditions such as official sampling and pre-export certificates. Turkish products including dried figs, hazelnuts, pistachios, lemons, peppers and others have appeared in its annexes at different times. The annexes are reviewed regularly, so importers must check the version in force for each shipment.
Border notifications
The EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) records notifications about food and feed risks. Reviewing recent notifications for your product and origin is a quick way to see where the risk is today.
Practical steps before shipment
- Check the current 2019/1793 annex and any special conditions for your product
- Review recent RASFF notifications for the product and origin
- Test for the hazard that triggered controls, using an appropriate sampling method
- Make sure the laboratory method meets the EU limits of quantification needed
- Keep sampling records, certificates and seal numbers together with the shipping documents
Pesticide residues
For fresh produce, EU maximum residue levels change regularly, and some active substances used legally in Turkey may not be approved in the EU, which can leave a default MRL at the limit of quantification. Spray programme review at the grower, combined with multi-residue testing before shipment, is the most reliable control.