A green leaf lettuce supplier has to manage something the buyer never sees: the water that curly leaves hold after harvest. Hatipoğlu Tarım, an Antalya-based exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables founded in 2002, lists this lettuce in all twelve months. The guide below is meant for importers, wholesalers and retail buyers, and it follows the questions a buyer asks: what the product is, when it is available, how it is handled and packed, which documents come with it and how to request a price.
Curly lettuce from Turkey: what it is
On the company’s product list the lettuce appears as curly lettuce; in the trade it is the green leaf type. Curly lettuce from Turkey is a fresh product with a bright green colour, voluminous leaves and a crisp texture. Alongside it the exporter ships a red counterpart, Lollo Rosso, and a head type, iceberg lettuce, so a lettuce range can be built from one source.
Why draining comes before the crate
Frilled leaves can hold water. For that reason the company manages draining and rapid cooling after harvest with particular care. The heads are cooled a short time after cutting. They are then placed in ventilated crates that are left unclosed, so that air can keep circulating around the leaves. For leaf lettuce wholesale this is the detail to ask a supplier about: are the heads drained before they go into the crate?
Research data point the same way. The UC Davis fact sheet for romaine and leaf lettuces puts the respiration rate of leaf lettuces about 20% above that of romaine. A product that respires faster deteriorates faster, which makes the speed of cooling more important for this type than for a romaine head.
Turkish lettuce in every month
The calendar for this product runs from January to December without a break. Turkish lettuce of the green leaf type is therefore not tied to a harvest window; tell us your delivery weeks. The wider picture is in the fresh produce season calendar.
Selection criteria and what research calls good quality
Hatipoğlu Tarım selects the heads on four points:
- Leaf integrity: whole leaves.
- Colour: a lively green.
- Head structure: a well-formed, voluminous head.
- Freshness: crisp leaves.
The UC Davis summary, which applies in general to romaine, butterhead, green leaf and red leaf lettuces, describes good quality in similar terms: bright to dark green colour once the outer leaves are removed, crisp and turgid leaves, and no insects, decay or mechanical damage.
Temperature and humidity in transit
The same source recommends storage close to 0 °C at a relative humidity above 95%. It gives no single storage life for leaf lettuces, noting only that the period varies with the lettuce type, so this guide quotes no day figure. As cooling methods it lists vacuum, hydro-vacuum and hydrocooling; forced-air cooling is slower and loses more moisture.
Lettuce is sensitive to ethylene. It can share a truck with other lettuces, fresh herbs and spring onions, all carried at around 0 °C. Loading it with ethylene-producing fruit such as apples, pears or tomatoes is not recommended. Greenhouse vegetables such as peppers, aubergines and cucumbers travel at around 10 °C and need a different vehicle. See also the cold chain in fresh produce export.
Open, ventilated crates
The packaging is a plastic crate of 30 × 50 × 22 cm, ventilated and left open at the top. On the pallet the crates stand on an 80 × 120 cm euro base. The article on packaging and case sizes in export sets this crate beside the other formats.
HS code, certificates and residues
Lettuces other than head lettuce are classified under HS 0705.19; ask your customs broker to confirm this before shipment. As a lettuce exporter in Turkey that serves European buyers, Hatipoğlu Tarım is certified to ISO 9001, ISO 22000, ISO 10002, GLOBALG.A.P. IFA and GRASP. Each lot that goes to Europe is analysed for residues. Further reading: EU pesticide MRLs.
The import process in six steps
Harvest, cooling, grading, packing, cold storage and dispatch are the six steps of every order. For green leaf lettuce the second step carries the most weight, because the heads are drained and cooled soon after they are cut. Loads are planned per truck: 33 euro pallets fit a standard 13.60 m refrigerated truck.
Requesting a quotation
Please state six things: the lettuce type, the head size, the packaging, the weekly quantity, the delivery week and the country of destination. Phone: +90 242 339 55 25. WhatsApp: +90 534 260 07 25. E-mail: 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.
Write to us with your weekly quantity and delivery weeks for green leaf lettuce, and we will answer with a quotation.
