The Food Safety Management System Meeting, organised by the FSSC Foundation in Istanbul, started with the opening speech of TÜRKAK Secretary General Banu Müderrisoğlu. Food safety, capacity building and regional cooperation issues were discussed at the meeting, which attracted great interest from academics, experts and international stakeholders.

In her speech, Secretary General Müderrisoğlu emphasised that food safety has become one of the most critical issues of our age and stated that protection of consumer health, sustainable production and safe trade can be possible with a strong quality infrastructure.

Stating that globally accepted programmes such as FSSC provide assurance not only to producers but also to consumers, Müderrisoğlu said: "As TÜRKAK, we offer accreditation services that form the basis of this trust in a transparent and reliable structure in compliance with international standards."

Turkey is an Important Actor in FSSC 22000 Certificates

Müderrisoğlu drew attention to Turkey's role in this field, considering that more than 1,100 FSSC 22000 certificates have been issued in Turkey to date through organisations accredited by TÜRKAK and that approximately 40,000 certificates have been issued worldwide.

Digitalisation, Zero Waste and Artificial Intelligence Oriented Transformation

Müderrisoğlu stated that all processes are managed through a digital platform with the Accreditation Process Operating System (ASIST) implemented by TÜRKAK and added: "We are now not only saving time and resources, but also supporting environmental sustainability with the principle of zero paper and zero waste."

Explaining that TÜRKAK is also working on the transition to big data and artificial intelligence-based systems, Müderrisoğlu said, "We are working on developing our own artificial intelligence-supported systems in all our accreditation processes."

Referring to TÜRKAK's position on a global scale, Müderrisoğlu reminded that in the "Quality Infrastructure for Sustainable Development Index" report published by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), TÜRKAK ranked at the top in the field of accreditation with 100 full points.

12 New Areas in 6 Years

Müderrisoğlu stated that TÜRKAK provides services not only in existing areas but also in newly developing sectors and added that a total of 12 new accreditation areas have been added in the last 6 years, ranging from aviation to biobanking, carbon and water footprint verification to forest management systems.

He also shared that the initial accreditation period was reduced from 10.5 months to 5 months, the service satisfaction rate reached 95%, 40% of the auditor pool was renewed and the performance score increased to 95%.