Turkish canned products manufacturer Yurt Konserve provides high-quality foods that contain no preservatives or additives with a monthly production capacity of millions of cans, the company’s foreign trade manager told DefenseHere.com in a special interview.
Stressing the company’s almost 70-year-expertise in the field of ready-to-eat canned foods, Yelda Can said they are producing a wide range of products including beans, stuffed grape leaves, boiled foods, fish and meat products, and jar products as well.
Can expressed that Yurt Konserve both exports to other countries, and supplies products for the domestic market, the company is a certified supplier of Turkey’s Ministry of Defense.
“We have two facilities, one in Manisa and the other in Istanbul. Our facility in Istanbul has a monthly production capacity of six million cans alone,” said Can. “We have more than 300 employees. Currently, we are working in two shifts.”
She said: “Even though we mostly use cans and aluminum packages during production, we are enhancing our packaging variety, in other words, we are adding a variety in packaging. The newest of them is the ready-to-eat aluminum packages standing behind me.”
Can noted that canned goods are produced in tin cans have a three-year shelf-life while the ready-to-eat aluminum packages have a one-year shelf life because of their packaging. “The most important factor that determines the shelf life of a product is the packaging itself,” she said.
Can continued as follows about Yurt Konserve's packaging diversity:
“The most important reason for us to use aluminum packaging is that there is an upward trend in this regard. As I said before, we are one of the certified suppliers of the Ministry of Defense, and the ministry is purchasing products in this packaging currently. There is an important point here; when you open the package, you can see that it looks like a real plate. In this way, you will no longer need an extra plate. Fork, spoon and spices are also included in the packaging. In a sense, it makes our soldiers feel like eating at home. We prepare meals as if they were moms' cooking. It motivates them as well. Our most important motivation was to provide our soldiers with products. We were already supplying products in tin cans, but since the packaging trend changed, we started production in that format.”
- Products contain no preservatives or additives
Yelda Can underlined they do not sell any products that are harmful to health, and said: “Neither preservatives nor additives are used by our company in our products. Especially on the packages, it is emphasized that it does not contain any preservatives and colorants. This is related to the production process. Particularly, the canning process is completed by the proper closing of the tin can. No additives are needed for a proper canning process.”
Emphasizing that consumers can buy Yurt Konserve products with peace of mind, “For this reason, we always express to our customers; feel comfortable about our products, because we do not produce any products that we cannot use at our home. All of our consumers can eat our meals with peace of mind,” she said.
- Private label manufacturing and exporting millions of cans to 25 countries
Stating that the company exports to 25 countries, Can told that sales abroad hiked during the pandemic.
“We have quite a lot of experience in private label manufacturing. I mean; these are private label products. Except for our own brand, we are also producing under the brands of different companies. This is a practice that we perform both abroad and domestically. We are providing private label products for 7-8 companies in Turkey and 5-6 firms abroad. Along with the pandemic, demand for canned products increased. With the closures in Europe early in the pandemic, demands intensified. We worked very hard in that period, so our export rate has increased. We have exported 20 million cans so far this year. We aim for more for the next year. We are targeting to double our exports. We are working in line with this purpose,” she added.