Turkey's Ministry of Food and Agriculture had released 20 tons of beef carcass meat imported from Bosnia to the market, which turned out to contain E.coli O157 bacteria, local media reported on January 23. The exporter company established in Bosnia is MUJANOVICI.
Although the meat had been sent to laboratory analysis since the bacteria was detected right after the arrival of the delivery on August 24 2017, it had been released to the market without waiting for the laboratory results.
The laboratory sent a detailed report to the General Directorate of Meat and Milk Board on August 29 2017, noting that the meat contained E.coli O157 bacteria, considered to be one of the most dangerous foodborne pathogen bacteria in the literature of medicine.
However, the directorate sent a notice to the related institutions 5 months later, on June 5 2018, warning that the meat is "unfit for consumption" and should be disposed of immediately.
GENERAL DIRECTORATE DENIED ALLEGATIONS
The General Directorate of Meat and Milk Board denied allegations in a statement released in reaction to the news in the local media. The directorate noted that the news "intend to disrupt trading activities with Bosnia in effect since 2014."
The directorate also said that there had been some contaminated meat in the delivery, and yet it had been taken away to the storehouse to be disposed of upon the laboratory analysis.
"THE BACTERIA CAUSE MALIGNANT DISEASE"
Assist. Prof. Dr Mehtap Türkay, a public health expert, talked to soL news and underlined that the E.coli O157 bacteria causes hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), resulting in the destruction of blood cells, kidney failure and other malignant diseases especially for the children below the age of 5 and the elderly.
Türkay also reminded that the time of the contaminated meat import from Bosnia coincides with the scandalous food poisoning in the military barracks in the summer of 2017. Some 731 soldiers had been poisoned from the contaminated meat in Manisa province of Turkey in June 2017.
