DFS Gıda was founded in Manisa by Hami Özer and İrfan Ertekin in 2011. The company’s name comes from the abbreviation of “Dried Food Solutions” and it exports the dried tomatoes and semi-dried frozen tomatoes that it processes. DFS Gıda which exports its products to 13 countries around the globe and its greatest market is Europe, manages its high-quality processing procedures with TOMRA Food’s sorting solutions.
The main product of DFS Gıda is semi-dried frozen tomatoes whereas dried tomatoes are the supplementary products. The production of solely the semi-dried frozen tomatoes takes place in an area of 10 thousand m2 closed area. There are around 15 companies that export in this field in Turkey and DFS Gıda is among the leaders. DFS has been using TOMRA’s Blizzard machine since November 2021 and it sets an example within the industry with its investment in technology.
DFS, which processes tomatoes, whose seeds are supplied by them and grown in the lands of the Aegean Region, exports 60 percent of its product to European countries. Hami Özer, CEO of DFS Gıda, states that they also exports to the United States of America, Far East, and Australia and says, “Depending on the harvest, we annually export 3,000 tons of semi-dried frozen tomatoes and between 500 and 700 tons of sun-dried tomatoes. Semi-dried frozen tomato is a product discovered by Italian and Greek families living in Australia. Turkish domestic market seldom uses dried tomatoes and never uses semi-dried frozen tomatoes dried in ovens. Therefore, we export all of our production. All the countries that we export goods to give the utmost care and attention to food safety and quality. That is why we benefit from TOMRA’s sorting technology to provide food safety and quality which is not possible to be obtained with hand-sorting.”
Turkey is the leader exporter in dried and semi-dried frozen tomato industry
The co-founding partner of DFS Gıda İrfan Ertekin mentions that sun-dried tomato production in Turkey started 30 years ago and semi-dried frozen tomato production dates back to 2000. He states, “For example in 2021 Turkey’s total export of dried, processed tomatoes is around 40 thousand tons. 17-18 thousand tons of it are semi-dried frozen whereas 22-23 thousand tons are dried and processed tomatoes. Turkey has the leading position in both of these areas and there are no other countries exporting these products. Producing countries generally use these products for their domestic consumption. Therefore, the quality of the products we export are highly important. Although the export volumes are not so big, our country needs to maintain its leading position in terms of quality too. That is why it is crucial for us to use high technology in production and DFS is one of the rare companies in the industry with its technology investments.”
The beginning of the season of these products is July says Hami Özer and continues: “We are completely tied to the land and its cycles. Harvest time for tomatoes is July and depending on the weather, the harvest might continue until the end of September or even the beginning of October. In such a short time, we have to process these products with no margin of error and in the highest capacity possible. We know that the Blizzard optical sorting machine will offer high performance in a busy season even in a long shift. The product that we process is 100% natural coming directly from the fields. It’s a zero-error product so we have to sustain this feature during the processing phase. Thanks to TOMRA’s Blizzard sorting machine, we make sure that plant-based foreign materials are eliminated during the sorting phase and guarantee high quality for our customers. The machine detects color defects as well. Our products are not shipped without going through this machine. We must say that Blizzard contributes to our production in terms of product quality and food safety.”
İrfan Ertekin underlines that human health is crucial in the food industry and continues with the following words: “DFS’ investments in automation such as using TOMRA solutions is an indicator of the importance we place on food safety. We are already in a leading position in growing and monitoring products. However, we do need to guarantee that there is no foreign material or defects in any of our products. We puchased TOMRA’s machine because it offers benefits in operating costs and it eliminates defects which cannot be seen while sorting by hand out of the production line. This is how we provide high quality, food safety and productivity.”
