Quality

As Işık Tarım, we have been producing with sensitivity to ensure food safety from field to dinner since the day we were founded.

With the principles of "Quality" and "Safe Food" that we apply within our organization, we strive to minimize food safety risks in agricultural and production areas in accordance with our role in the food supply chain. Aware of the requirements of national and international legal regulations, we resolutely maintain our pioneering role in the sector by fulfilling quality and food safety requirements within the scope of our responsibilities towards ourselves and our customers.

In line with our extensive role in the food supply chain, we carry out continuous activities with our farmers, employees, solution partners, suppliers and customers to create and maintain a Food Safety Culture. Işık Tarım effectively manages food safety risks that may arise by following legal changes, scientific developments and newly developed processes, and makes the necessary investments to integrate innovations into the system. Our company produces organic, sustainable, healthy and safe products for society.

Raw Material

Işık Tarım's food safety practices begin in the field. Our company commences quality control activities from the field stage by conducting soil, water, and leaf analyses, and provides consultancy to farmers on crop management with its experienced team of agricultural engineers. It organises widespread training to control environmental contaminants and raises producer awareness. By collecting samples from different stages of production, it keeps the risks of chemical pesticide contamination under control. Işık Tarım's Zonguldak Ormanlı Facility, at the product/crop production stage, which is the first link in the food production chain, takes measures against chemical, physical and biological hazards and effectively manages threats that may arise throughout the supply chain.

Agricultural products reaching our facilities from the Western Black Sea region of Turkey and the Happy Hazelnut project to our facilities are assessed for quality/food safety compliance in accordance with food safety requirements through our in-house laboratories, which perform pesticide, microbiology, mycotoxin, and other physical-chemical analyses, as well as through domestic and international laboratories we work with, and all quality and food safety risks are kept under control.

Processing Process

Işık Tarım has organized the Zonguldak-Ormanlı Hazelnut Facility in accordance with the requirements of the BRC Food Safety Management System. In its operations, it implements programs for Cleaning-Hygiene-Sanitation, foreign material contamination prevention, water management, product management, pest management, hygiene controls, Environmental Microbiological Monitoring Programs, Allergen management, and Waste management in line with “Good Manufacturing Practices” and continuously improves itself according to the updated requirements.

At the Işık Tarım Zonguldak-Ormanlı Hazelnut Facility, from the moment the product enters, all foreign matter and quality defects that may arise from the primary production stage are sorted out using advanced technology laser and camera-based sorting systems, stone separators, aspirators, and sieves, and all final products are passed through metal detectors suitable for different production technologies. Throughout the operation, field observations, lot suitability checks, and process quality controls are carried out, and suitability assessments are performed by process quality control engineers.

Final Product

During the production process, all final products that have passed all compliance checks are checked one last time according to the final product control parameters determined by customer requirements and legal requirements. After physical, chemical, and microbiological compliance assessment, the quality team evaluates the products according to the Product Release/Withholding procedure and issues loading approvals. Işık Tarım Food Analysis Laboratories respond accurately, reliably, impartially, and quickly to the specified quality and food safety parameters and have their competence verified by participating in international proficiency tests. Qualitative tests and analyses, which begin in the field, continue in internal and external laboratories during the processing stage as well as in the final product stage.

Physical Analysis

After undergoing physical checks at the raw material stage, the product passes through numerous different quality tests before reaching the final product stage, at which point it undergoes physical analysis again in our laboratories. Physical quality control is carried out on all products using the following physical tests on the final products:

Appearance
Count and Size
Defects
Foreign matter
Weight

Chemical Analysis

After different tests and analyses carried out during Raw Material acceptance and processing, our products that reach the final product stage undergo some chemical tests.

Moisture
Water activity
Sulfur dioxide
Fat
Peroxide value
Acidity value
Free chlorine determination

Microbiological Analysis

After undergoing various tests and analyses during the raw material acceptance and processing stages, our products that reach the final product stage are also subjected to certain microbiological tests.

Total aerobic bacteria
Mould
Yeast
Enterobacteriaceae
Coliform
Escherichia coli
Bacillus cereus
Staphylococcus aureus
Listeria monocytogenes
Salmonella spp.

Instrumental Analysis

Following various tests and analyses conducted during the raw material acceptance and processing stage, our products that reach the final product stage are also subjected to the necessary instrumental tests.

Aflatoxin
Ochratoxin
Patulin
Polar pesticides
Hydrocyanic acid
GC-MS/MS
LC-MS/MS
HS-GC-MS

Işık Tarım is on its way to becoming a worldwide brand by producing safe and healthy products with the idea of respect for the ecosystem starting from the seed and extending to human beings. Prioritizing the health and safety of its customers, Işık Tarım is constantly working to maintain its leadership in the organic food sector by integrating global quality criteria with the institutions it has developed within its organization.

If it not safe, it is not food!