Murat Koç, General Manager of Barilla, Made Statements

Barilla, which has undertaken significant work in taste, nutrition and environmental sustainability for a better future, brought together stakeholders in the gastronomy sector to share the steps that the sector and all its stakeholders must take for the future. At the panel titled 'The Future of Food; Collaboration for Change', moderated by Hürriyet Newspaper columnist Müge Akgün, Barilla General Manager Murat Koç took the floor as a speaker.

Murat Koç, who stated that the Barilla Group has combined its delicious products with sustainability principles over 146 years, both to provide consumers with a flawless experience and to protect the environment, continued his remarks as follows:

"There are 4 headings that need to be taken seriously and urgent action taken on a global scale. Hunger and obesity come first. Then there are unsustainable agricultural models. Another important problem is food waste. As Barilla, we continue our work to be part of the solutions to these problems. Sustainability is of great importance for Barilla. Since our establishment, we have maintained our commitment to providing high-quality food products. With the principle of our founder Pietro Barilla, 'You will not produce anything you would not feed your children', and our mission of 'Eating Well for a Better Life', which expresses people's happiness and holistic well-being, we continue our operations around the world with over 8,000 employees. Our company's 'Good for You' principle means continuously improving products, motivating people to adopt healthy lifestyles, improving access to food and social inclusion, while 'Good for the Planet' means creating sustainable supply chains, reducing CO2 emissions from production and reducing water consumption." [caption id="attachment_146530" align="aligncenter"] Barilla Turkey General Manager Murat Koç[/caption]

Barilla General Manager Murat Koç, within the scope of the 'Eating Well for a Better Life' mission, stated that they have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 32% and water consumption by 24% per ton of finished product since 2010, and added:

"As Barilla Turkey, in 2022 our water consumption fell by 35% over the last 10 years, while carbon emissions decreased by 8% in the same period. In the coming period, as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we continue our work towards the goal of supplying all energy sources of our Bolu plant with solar panels, and we aim to implement our project of using water converted from rainwater in our plant within the next few years. For nearly a quarter of a century, we have been conducting sustainable and contract farming work in Turkey. At our Bolu plant with a capacity of 100,000 tons, we completed all our local production with Turkish wheat in 2022, and reached a total of 42,000 hectares of contract farming area. With the geographically marked Filiz Mardin Bulgur that we introduced to consumers at the beginning of the year, we continue our contributions to local agriculture and the visibility of Turkish cuisine."