First in the Sector from Metro Türkiye

Food safety protection and sustainable food sourcing, Metro Türkiye has expanded its traceability work launched for the first time in Turkey in 2014, consolidating it under the "What's on Your Plate?" campaign, and now offers 100% traceability across all Metro-branded organic food products following red meat, fish, honey and fruit-vegetable products. Following red meat, fish, honey and fruit-vegetable products, Metro-branded organic food products now offer QR code-based traceability. With this application, a first and only one in Turkey, Metro Chef-branded tomato paste, eggs, legumes, olive oil and Rioba-branded smoothies and iced tea varieties, around 50 organic products in total, present the journey from field and farm to shelf with a combined 39 different data points. Thanks to the information accessed by scanning the QR code on the product label, consumers can see the entire story of the product and all raw materials that make it up—from organic product certification to which farmers, fields, poultry farms or producers created them, from product analysis results to food safety certificates and inspection results of the producers.  

Complete product story in digital form until it reaches the shelf

Metro Türkiye CEO Sinem Türüng stated that they have provided 100% traceability in organic products to their customers, a first in Turkey: "As Metro Türkiye, within our healthy nutrition approach for everyone, we both implement pioneering projects and diversify our product range. In this context, we stock more than 200 organic certified products on our shelves, and 25% of these are our own branded products. To promote responsible production and consumption and meet our customers' expectations, while increasing our product diversity, providing reliable food to our customers is another priority for us. Within the scope of our traceability work that we have been working on for many years, we have begun providing the complete digital story of our entire Metro-branded organic product range until it reaches the shelf, again a first in Turkey. For example, in Metro-branded tomato paste you can see the field and farmer where the tomatoes were grown, in eggs the poultry farm where the chickens are located, in olive oil the olive variety from which the oil was obtained and even the production method—simply by scanning a QR code. We do not stop with just this information; we also share with our customers all detailed information from product and packaging migration to heavy metal analysis, food safety certificates of producers and inspection results in digital form. With our slogan 'Trace Food, Eat with Knowledge,' we aim on this long-term journey to increase awareness among conscious consumers and consumers' food literacy.' Metro Türkiye monitors field, farm and packaging facility inspections organized to ensure food safety and fair working conditions guarantees across all organic food products under its own brands, and customers can easily access this information if the product is a cooperative product or bears a geographical indication. In 49 Metro-branded organic food products sourced from 13 different suppliers, 39 different data points including the farmer or raw material producer, harvest location, allergen information according to the food product, milk fat content, product analyses, organic product certificates for the final product and all raw materials that make it up, geographical indication information and others are shared with customers via the QR code scanned on the product.  

20-hour training on QR code system

Metro Türkiye provided 20-hour training on the QR code system through one-on-one meetings with 13 different suppliers to enable the traceability system to be implemented by suppliers. Through this training and work, Metro Türkiye, which has developed its traceability efforts, informs its producers on this matter while simultaneously supporting local production by directly affecting producers affiliated with cooperatives and suppliers with which it works.  

Over 200 organic products on shelves

Organic farming conducted to protect the environment and promote healthy nutrition protects people, the environment and animals from the negative effects of chemicals while increasing the use of renewable energy sources and supporting energy savings. Organic product consumption has a positive impact on health while supporting agricultural production methods that protect the environment, plants, animals and human health without polluting soil, water and air. With the vision of providing customers with reliable, healthy and nutritionally high-quality products, Metro Türkiye aims to increase organic product diversity by 25% year-over-year compared to the previous year, and in 2021 increased its Metro-branded organic product count by over 200% compared to the previous year. Metro Türkiye, which stocks over 200 organic products on its shelves, offers 49 different organic food products through its brands under its own umbrella. At the same time, it continues to meet all the needs of its customers on their healthy nutrition journey by increasing product diversity including plant-based, reduced sugar, reduced fat, reduced salt and additive-free products.