A Lollo Rosso lettuce supplier is chosen for colour first, because the red of the leaf is the reason this lettuce is bought at all. Hatipoğlu Tarım is an Antalya-based supplier and exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables, active since 2002, and Lollo Rosso is on its calendar throughout the year. Importers, wholesalers and retail buyers will find here what decides the colour, how the fragile leaf edges are protected, how the product is packed and classified, and what to include in an enquiry.
Lollo Rosso from Turkey: a lettuce bought for its colour
Lollo Rosso is a speciality lettuce with frilled leaves and red tones that stand out in a display. Lollo Rosso from Turkey is selected by the company on colour, leaf integrity, head structure and freshness. Its green counterpart is covered in the guide to green leaf lettuce, and the upright type in the guide to romaine lettuce.
When the red is deepest
Cool nights support the development of the red pigment in the leaves. The darkest tones are therefore generally seen in the winter crop and in the crop of early spring. For Lollo Rosso wholesale programmes that depend on a deep red, the winter and early spring crop is the one to plan around. The product calendar itself shows all twelve months, so supply does not stop in summer. If a deep red is essential to your range, say so in the enquiry and mention the weeks concerned. The season calendar gives the overview for other products.
Leaf edges: the sensitive point
The fine edges of the leaves are delicate and can darken. To prevent that, the product is handled with care both at harvest and during packing. For a buyer this is the point to look at on arrival: clean, undarkened edges across the head.
What a red leaf lettuce supplier should deliver
A red leaf lettuce supplier can be measured against the description of good quality that UC Davis gives for romaine and leaf lettuces, a summary that also covers the red leaf type:
- Colour: bright after the outer leaves are removed, in some cultivars with red tones.
- Leaves: crisp and turgid.
- Defects: free of insects, decay and mechanical damage.
The company’s own criteria, colour, leaf integrity, head structure and freshness, fit within that description.
Storage data from research
UC Davis advises holding leaf lettuces near 0 °C with the relative humidity above 95%. How long a lettuce keeps depends on its type, the fact sheet says, and it states no figure for red leaf lettuce; none is given here either. One comparison is worth knowing: leaf lettuces respire about 20% faster than romaine, so prompt cooling matters more. Vacuum cooling, hydro-vacuum cooling and hydrocooling are the methods named; forced air works more slowly and costs more moisture.
Because lettuce reacts to ethylene, keep it away from apples, pears, tomatoes and other ethylene-producing fruit on the truck. Other lettuces, fresh herbs and spring onions are moved at around 0 °C and may be loaded with it. Tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and cucumbers from the greenhouse are carried at around 10 °C and cannot share that temperature. Details: cold chain in fresh produce export.
Crates and palletising
Lollo Rosso is prepared in plastic crates measuring 30 × 50 × 22 cm and packed in line with the shipment plan. Crates are palletised on euro pallets of 80 × 120 cm; how pallets are arranged in the vehicle is described in our article on loading patterns.
Customs code and papers to import red lettuce
Buyers who import red lettuce should note that it is not classified as head lettuce: the code is HS 0705.19, to be confirmed by your customs broker before shipment. The exporter’s certificates are ISO 9001, ISO 22000, ISO 10002, GLOBALG.A.P. IFA and GRASP. Residue analysis is carried out on every lot shipped to Europe; the article on EU pesticide MRLs explains what the limits mean for a buyer.
Six steps from harvest to dispatch
A Lollo Rosso shipment passes through careful harvest, cooling, grading on colour and leaf condition, packing, cold storage and dispatch. Planning is done truck by truck. One standard refrigerated truck of 13.60 m holds 33 euro pallets.
Your enquiry
We need six pieces of information to quote: type, head size, packaging, weekly volume, delivery week and destination country. Call +90 242 339 55 25, message us on WhatsApp at +90 534 260 07 25, or write to 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.
Tell us the weeks in which you need Lollo Rosso and the volume per week, and we will come back with a quotation.
