Food Law
Symposium

Hosted by İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim University in cooperation with Balıkesir University

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD LAW – 2026

“Foundations of Food Law: Private Law, Public Law and European Union Perspectives”

• Monday, 12 October 2026
• 09:00 – 18:30 (Turkey Time)
• Hybrid (in person and online)
• Symposium Languages: Turkish – English

1. Aim of the Symposium

Food cannot be reduced to a single branch of the legal order: it is at once a matter of public health, a consumer relationship, a commercial asset, a cultural heritage and a subject of international harmonisation. In Turkish law, food-related rules extend across a wide field — from constitutional obligations to Law No. 5996 on Veterinary Services, Plant Health, Food and Feed; from the Turkish Food Codex to the provisions of the Turkish Criminal Code on offences against public health; and from the intellectual property and unfair competition regime to the law of administrative sanctions. In practice, this fragmentation gives rise to conflicts of competence, concurrence of norms and problems of legal predictability.

The Symposium aims to open this fragmented body of norms to discussion within a single conceptual framework, and to address whether food law constitutes an autonomous discipline or a cross-cutting field of law, taking into account its private law, public law, intellectual property law and European Union law dimensions. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the Symposium brings together legal scholars as well as researchers from gastronomy, food science and the social sciences.

2. Thematic Structure

The programme consists of seven sessions reflecting the normative layers of food law:

• Session I – Foundations of Food Law: The relationship between the legal definition of food and its social meaning, the role of Law No. 5996 in ensuring food safety, discretionary power and the principle of proportionality in administrative fines, and the administration’s supervisory powers and administrative sanctions.
• Session II – Private Law Dimension of Food Law: Control of standard contract terms in the food supply chain, the producer’s liability arising from defective food, halal certification in Türkiye, patentability of classical formulations and cellular agriculture technologies in food innovation, and trade dress protection for food packaging.
• Session III (in English) – Comparative Food Law and EU Harmonisation: Enforcement capacity in Turkey’s alignment with EU food law, the harmonisation of Kyrgyzstan’s food safety regulation with EU food law, the offence of trading in spoiled or altered food, the constitutional duty of the State to protect in food safety, and digital technologies in food regulation.
• Session IV – Public Law Dimension of Food Law: The constitutional duty of the State to protect in food safety, the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, risk assessment and risk management in Turkish food legislation, and the element of danger in the offence of trading in spoiled or altered food.
• Session V (in English) – Agricultural Policy, Sustainability and National Food Regulation: Plant variety protection as a food security instrument, the legal regulation of food legislation in Kazakhstan, the legal protection of traditional food products as geographical indications (the experience of Uzbekistan), and the taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages for the protection of public health.
• Session VI (in English) – EU Food Law, Consumer Protection and Sustainability: The primary responsibility of food business operators in EU food law, the role of EU food law in consumer protection, the role of food labelling in consumer protection, and the new dimension of sustainability in the EU Common Agricultural Policy after Regulation 2024/1143.
• Session VII (in English) – Intellectual Property, Food Identity and the International Food Supply Chain: Legal frameworks governing food production and imports in the Kyrgyz Republic and the European Union, intellectual property law and culinary creativity, and the protection of food identity across borders in the international food supply chain.

3. Opening and Keynote Speakers

Opening Addresses

• Prof. Dr. İsmail KÜÇÜK – Rector, İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim University
• Prof. Dr. Yücel OĞURLU – Rector, Balıkesir University
• Prof. Dr. Canan KÜÇÜKALİ – Dean, Faculty of Law, İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim University
• Prof. Dr. Mustafa YASAN – Dean, Faculty of Law, Balıkesir University

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Dr. Oswald JANSEN

Food Law in Türkiye at the Intersection of European and International Administrative Law

4. Participation

The Symposium will be held in hybrid format (in person and online), hosted by İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim University. In-person participation will take place at the İZÜ Abdullah Tivnikli Hall, and online participation via Zoom (Meeting ID: 926 6639 3112, Passcode: 610739). Participation is free of charge.

5. Symposium Calendar

6. Technical Requirements for Paper Submission

For all rules on formatting, citation and references, the “Paper Writing and Submission Guidelines” shall apply.

7. Publication

Papers presented at the Symposium will be published on 20 October 2026 as electronic proceedings with an e-ISBN. Papers whose full text is not submitted by the stated deadline may, at the discretion of the Organising Committee, be published only as extended abstracts.

8. Contact

For paper submissions and enquiries:

• Res. Asst. Ömer Fatih GÜRCAN – +90 553 330 78 42
• Dr. Beyza AKA – +90 536 474 54 79

Papers and abstracts shall be sent to sempozyumhukuk@izu.edu.tr.

9. Symposium Committees

The members of the Scientific Committee and the Organising Committee are listed on the Committees page.