Save Foods, Inc., an agri-food tech company specializing in eco crop protection that helps to reduce food waste and ensure food safety, announced preparations are underway for a successful 2022-2023 citrus season in Turkey, beginning in September.
Kalyoncu Nakliyat Turizm Ticaret ve Sanayi Limited Şirketi (“Kalyoncu”), one of Turkey’s top exporters of fresh produce and currently responsible for approximately 22% of Turkey’s fresh produce exports, according to information contained on Kalyoncu’s website, has placed its first order for the upcoming season. Kalyoncu, having previously completed a successful pilot program with Save Foods, expects to treat at least 70,000 tons of fruit with Save Foods’ eco crop protection solutions during the upcoming 2022-2023 season, which would result in approximately $1 million in sales.
“Russia has historically been Turkey’s main market for mandarins, and 52% of all Turkish citrus fruits were supplied to Russia in 2020,” commented Dan Sztybel, CEO of Save Foods' Israeli subsidiary. “Due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, these exports are now being diverted to other markets, such as the EU.”
As we have reported previously, regulations regarding pesticide residues on produce are becoming increasingly stringent in the EU and other markets, and some of the leading European supermarkets require products to comply with a residue level of 50% or less of the legal limit. That is where Save Foods comes in. We believe our eco crop protection treatment will help our Turkish customers further expand their presence in the EU, primarily by allowing them to comply with the otherwise stringent regulations they did not encounter so far. We are thrilled to start the citrus season in Turkey with one of our local partners, Kalyoncu and we see significant potential in working with them on other produce such as bell peppers and cherries that Save Foods treatments showed great results with.”
Data from the first quarter of 2022 from the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) reveals that Turkey accounted for 60% of all rejections of fruits and vegetables by the EU (Turkey accounted for 180 alerts out of the 298 reported for all countries outside the EU) due to them containing residues of banned pesticides.
“Turkey was the EU’s main non-EU supplier of citrus fruits during the first quarter of 2022, leveraging its high trade capacity, good taste in citrus fruit, and short distance between the EU and Turkey,” added Sztybel. “I believe as we kick off the citrus season in Turkey, we are in a great position to help mitigate the impact of these strict requirements on exporters.”
For more information:
Save Foods
www.savefoods.co