Merko is a processor of fruits and vegetables into the raw material for the food industry worldwide. Merko was established in 1982 and is proud to have served its customers and suppliers for 40 years. In 1994 Merko went public with an IPO and today the major shareholders (Duncan Blake and Nomikos from Greece) are managing the company, with most of the balance of shares quoted on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Merko processes tomatoes into tomato paste and diced tomato for industrial applications. Tomato Paste and Diced production is carried out in Tepecik factory situated in the Bursa province. The company is at the forefront of introducing HACCP and Total Quality to every product line at each of its factories, and in house training programmes are run on a regular basis in partnership with Universities. Units in the group successfully completed audits from NFPA in the USA, BRC from the UK and ISO 9001:2000 and HACCP accreditation are kept to date. The philosophy of acting as producer, but thinking as the consumer, has pervaded the company's thinking to this day.