The widespread use of cheap and low quality varieties of stainless steel which is the main raw material for the industrial kitchen sector threatens health and hygiene.  Inoksan which accepts the task to draw attention to this trend that leads to unfair competition between the companies and eliminating customer satisfaction warns both customers and sector and families about the need to act consciously and being responsible for the health of our children.

Each child is special for families. It is very important for families about their children's good education, healthy development and growth line monitoring and it is also a pride. The importance of cleanliness and hygiene for health growth of children cannot be denied. Therefore, it is very important to provide hygiene in places where they spend their most of time at school and where they eat. In order to provide hygiene at schools, canteens and cafeterias, any kind of device and equipment should be clean and they should also be made of quality raw material.

Stainless steel the most important material of the industrial kitchen sector, today has a very large usage field with more than 120 quality types. The last 40 years show that AISI 304 quality is the most used. AISI 304 stainless steel which contain Nickel at 8 to 10,5% rate, is chosen since it offers resistance against corrosion, it is easy to shape and to weld and offers a qualitative surface look as well.

The boost of the nickel prices in the last years; however, channeled the attention to the low quality or nickel free stainless steel types and the usage of 200 type stainless steel increased up to 2,5 times within the last 5-6 years. As a result rough discussions occurred in the industrial kitchen sector which is quite important especially in terms of hygiene and quality.

Inoksan A.Ş. Sales Manager Esra Altay Batkın stated that the major issue is that the 300 type stainless steels are no magnetic as 200 type are and beside the difficulty in distinguishing their looks the 200 type are sold on the market as 300 type thus leading to significant problems on the market.

Batkın said that those using the 200 type knowingly are cheating on themselves and those who are using unknowingly are cheating both on themselves and their customers. 200 type removes the customer satisfaction since it corrodes quickly and creates an unfair competition among the players of the market thus leading to complaints and loss of reliability. The unfair competition is also triggered by the unit price of 200 types which is 30-60% cheaper and the fact that this is not mentioned on the quotations. The cheap steel is threatening both the health and the economy.

Esra Altay Batkın emphasized they never make and will never make concessions on the usage of stainless steel of AISI 304 quality recognized as one of the essentials of the industrial kitchen sector, continued: “The inox word within the title of the Inoksan mean stainless steel. As can be understood from here we pay great attention to the stainless steel. We are a company which always adopted the principle of using quality materials.  Thus; 304 quality stainless steel is used in all the Inoksan equipments.  Batkın also mentioned that the sector and end users need to be made aware on this issue and says that “The consumer needs to see the difference between the equipments manufactured with the high quality stainless steel and those manufactured with low quality materials.”