Popular steakhouse accused of pork fraud divides Turkey
While official tests revealed traces of pork, the company’s owner suggests a “dark plot.”
ANKARA — A popular steakhouse chain with branches in more than 30 provinces in Turkey and high online ratings divided the public after claims surfaced that its products contain pork meat, shedding light on food fraud in the country.
Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Ministry earlier this week released the results of its country-wide inspections, updating its list of companies suspected of being involved in food fraud based on tests conducted on their products. The famous restaurant chain wasn't on the list. Yet soon social media platforms were abuzz with rumors that Kofteci Yusuf — named after its owner, Yusuf Akkas — wasn’t included in the list despite official tests that found pork meat in its meat.
What happened: On Wednesday, T24, an independent news website, released two separate official test results dated from February and March that confirmed the rumors that pork was indeed in the meat. The tests showed that samples taken from two different branches contained 0.1% of pork meat. The ministry on Thursday added the chain’s name to the companies whose products pose a “threat to human health.”
While the figures are not available, Turkey’s pork consumption is believed to be low, as pork meat can be found only at upscale restaurants or supermarkets with a license to sell pork. While hundreds of manufacturers mix horse, donkey or poultry meat into their red meat products — presumably because it is cheaper — the Ministry of Agriculture's list showed that only two companies were found to have pork in their products. The reports caused a major brouhaha on social media in the Muslim-majority nation, where eating pork is prohibited.
