Iceberg lettuce suppliers are best compared on two points a buyer can check on arrival: how firm the head is, and how soon after cutting it was cooled. Hatipoğlu Tarım is an Antalya-based exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables, established in 2002, and iceberg stands on its product calendar in all twelve months. This guide is written for importers, wholesalers and retail buyers.
Iceberg lettuce from Turkey: the product
Iceberg lettuce is the crisphead type, known for its tight head and fresh appearance. Hatipoğlu Tarım selects iceberg lettuce from Turkey on head firmness, leaf integrity and general quality criteria, and prepares it to the requirements of the export order. If your range goes beyond iceberg, the same exporter ships leaf and romaine types; see the guides to green leaf lettuce and romaine lettuce.
A lettuce supplier in Turkey with a twelve-month calendar
The product calendar lists iceberg in every month from January to December. A buyer who needs a lettuce supplier in Turkey can therefore start the enquiry from the delivery weeks of the programme instead of from a harvest window. The fresh produce season calendar shows which other products are available in the same weeks.
Head firmness: how maturity is judged
The company’s own selection rests on head firmness and leaf integrity. For the detail behind those words, the fact sheet published by UC Davis for crisphead lettuce is a useful reference. It judges maturity by compactness: a compact head that gives under moderate hand pressure is ideal, a very loose head is immature and a very hard head is over-mature. Over-mature heads, the same source adds, develop more problems after harvest. It describes good quality as follows:
- Colour: once the wrapper leaves are removed, bright and uniformly light green.
- Texture: crisp, turgid leaves.
- Cut butt: the cut surface may discolour; according to the fact sheet this says nothing about the quality of the head.
Morning harvest and rapid cooling
The lettuces are harvested in the cool of the morning. After cutting they are cooled quickly, by vacuum or by cold air, which helps the heads keep their freshness. The UC Davis data describe vacuum and hydro-vacuum cooling as the common methods for iceberg; forced-air cooling is also used, but it is slower and the moisture loss is higher.
Storage data: 0 °C, humidity and ethylene
According to the UC Davis fact sheet, the optimum for iceberg is 0 °C at a relative humidity above 95%, with a storage life of 21–28 days depending on the cultivar. At 5 °C the figure is about 14 days, provided no ethylene is present. Iceberg is highly sensitive to ethylene: even 1 ppm causes russet spotting, the brown spots on the midribs. Whole heads gain nothing from a carbon dioxide enriched atmosphere, and more than 3% can cause the injury known as brown stain.
For mixed loads this means the following. Lettuces, fresh herbs and spring onions are carried at around 0 °C and can be loaded together. Placing lettuce on the same vehicle as ethylene-producing fruit such as apples, pears or tomatoes is not recommended, and greenhouse vegetables carried at around 10 °C cannot travel at the same set-point. More background is in our article on the cold chain in fresh produce export.
Six or nine heads: crates for iceberg lettuce wholesale
Iceberg is packed in plastic crates of 30 × 50 × 22 cm. Depending on head size, six or nine heads go into each crate; state the head size in the order. The crates are stacked on 80 × 120 cm euro pallets; formats are compared in the guide to packaging and case sizes in export.
Head lettuce falls under HS code 0705.11. Have your customs broker confirm the classification before the first shipment.
Documents when you import lettuce from Turkey
Buyers who import lettuce from Turkey ask for two things: certificates and residue results. Hatipoğlu Tarım holds ISO 9001, ISO 22000, ISO 10002, GLOBALG.A.P. IFA and GRASP, and every lot bound for Europe undergoes residue analysis. Two articles explain the background: EU pesticide MRLs and which certificates European buyers require.
Import process: six steps from field to truck
An iceberg order runs through harvest in the morning, cooling, grading, packing at six or nine to the crate, cold storage and dispatch. Shipments are planned by the truck, and a standard 13.60 m refrigerated truck takes 33 euro pallets.
What to send for a quote
Six details are enough for an iceberg quotation: the type, the head size (six or nine to the crate), the packaging, the weekly volume, the delivery week and the destination country. You can reach us by phone on +90 242 339 55 25, on WhatsApp at +90 534 260 07 25 or by e-mail at info@hatipoglutarim.com.
Hatipoğlu Tarım has exported fresh fruit and vegetables from Antalya since 2002. Under the FİNİKE brand it ships 128 product lines to 42 countries, with harvest, grading, cold storage and dispatch handled in house across five facilities in Serik, Kepez, Mavikent, Yenişehir and Alaşehir.
Send us the head count per crate, the weekly volume and the delivery weeks, and we will prepare a quotation for your iceberg programme.
