The buzz on Turkish flour

The issue on how safe Turkish flour is for human consumption is still largely unresolved. The Philippines has been importing Turkish wheat flour since 2004, and six years after, the issue of carcinogenic toxins in alert-causing levels found in the product now comes to fore and is blown up in the local media.

How safe is their wheat flour? Are Turkish products, especially their food exports, subjected to stringent global standards? If you talk to the Turkish authorities, of course the claim is a big resounding YES, and this is reiterated and vehemently emphasized by the current Turkish Ambassador to the Philippines, His Excellency Adnan Basaga.

What better resource person on this issue than the embassy of Turkey, and we did manage to get an audience with the Ambassador. He was understandably miffed at the negative publicity his country was getting—damagingly negative and sustained and, according to Ambassador Basaga, largely but not complete unfounded and certainly undeserved.

According to the Ambassador, the research in question reported that 81 percent of the Turkish wheat flour was contaminated, when in truth the research covered only 10 percent of the Turkish production area. Of this 10 percent, he says only two percent were found to have toxic materials, a level that falls safely within the tolerable limits of European products. He further states that all Turkish products are subjected to strict Turkish as well as European Union standards, especially their food products, whether for domestic consumption or for export to the international market. Under both standards, their products, according to the Ambassador, are consistently found safe and pose no threat to public health, most particularly their wheat flour.

 This fact is stressed because Turkey is the eighth biggest wheat producer in the world today and the second largest wheat flour exporter, second only to Kazakhstan. They are also the largest consumer of wheat, the population consuming about 20 million metric tons a year. Of the wheat they produce, 10 million metric tons are made into wheat flour, and of this, 1.8 million metric tons are exported to various parts of the world. They currently export to fifteen countries and the Ambassador says that the UN World Food Program is their main buyer for its international aid operations. The Ambassador adds that there are no additives in their flour.

Their products, particularly the exports, need to have the proper certification as to safety at the time and place of loading. After these are hauled off to the warehouses at the ports of destination, they can no longer attest to the quality and safety of their products as these are now subject to the conditions, handling and distribution of the destination ports.

 We have the Philippine Association of Flour Millers, Inc. on the other side of the issue, a main protagonist in this controversy simply because this is the organization that is the authority on this product and they of course make it their business to make sure that the flour we use is safe. The association’s Executive Director Ric Pinga shares that the news item on the cancer scare posed by Turkish wheat flour indeed has solid basis. They gleaned this from results of studies made by the University of Instanbul. After perusing through the detailed study, they forwarded the research paper to our local Bureau of Food and Drugs and requested to agency to make a thorough study of samples of Turkish wheat flour that have currently swamped the domestic market.

As of this writing, the BFAD has not come out with the official results of their analysis.

The Philippines has been importing wheat flour from Turkey, and since 2004, the volume of importation has been steadily rising.According to Ambassador Adnan Basaga, as of 2008 and 2009, Turkish wheat flour now accounts for 55-57 percent of the volume of wheat imported by the Philippines. Considering that they only started about six years ago, the rise in volume is indeed surprising.

Director Pinca, though, seems to have the answer to this phenomenal rise. He says that Turkish wheat flour is known widely by their association as being grossly undervalued at the ports. Last year, he says, the country imported 86,000 metric tons of wheat from Turkey, and of this, he says, 19,000 metric tons were undervalued. He adds that the country effectively lost P20 million from this undervaluation because the importers paid only P36 million in VAT and other duties instead of P56 million.

This is why, he says, that Turkish flour can be had much cheaper than other wheat, selling for only P400/bag instead of P600/bag. He hastens to add that it is the Filipino importers who are doing this, not the Turkish exporters. He has reported this to the Bureau of Customs and he says nothing has been done about it. His association, adds Director Pinga, has been in constant touch with the BOC on this undervaluation angle because the unfair (and illegal) business practice has caused so much distortion in the market. He laments the fact that the BOC has not done anything concrete to address the issue.

Turkish wheat is not only used for bread-making. It is used for pasta as well, and some of the country’s instant noodle manufacturers reportedly use a lot of this. Raw materials for food manufacturing may be subjected to some standard testing, but only reputable institutions bother to go into this. Those fly-by-night noodle manufacturers, for instance, who supply wet markets or small provincial stores with “takal –takal” type of selling cannot be bothered by these so-called safety standards. Ditto with those small provincial bakeries whose only guiding principle is their profit margins. Pending the results of the in-depth product analysis and testing by the BFAD, Director Pinga says prudence dictates that we do not take any chances with the yet unknown. He cautions the consuming public against buying unbranded food products like those macaroni shells that are sold without packaging and sold by the kilo in public markets and sari-sari stores. These products are highly suspect because we have nothing on the manufacturer—no information as to content or nutritional value, and no company to run after should the products prove to be harmful. He also calls on small bakeries to wait for the definitive analysis results from the BFAD before they buy their wheat flour.

The Embassy of Turkey has been visibly upset about this controversy. The Ambassador himself says that his country is willing to make publicly known the results of the analysis of Turkish wheat flour undertaken by reputable international organizations. He adds that, if Turkish wheat flour is indeed suspect, why would the United Nations World Food Program buy their wheat mainly from Turkey for their international aid programs?

On the other hand, the flour millers have that very disturbing research paper from the University of Istanbul. I guess the BFAD should be able to put our fears to rest. I hope they do not drag their feet on this one.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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