Pursuant to Article 47 of the Higher Education Law No. 2547, our University Health, Culture, and Sports Directorate provides our students with accommodation, health, sports, culture, and scholarship services, while also meeting the nutritional needs of our students and academic and administrative staff. To this end, lunch is served in 9 of our dining halls and dinner is served in 4 of our dining halls.

Our Mission (Our Purpose)

The purpose of the ITU Food Services Branch Directorate is to ensure that ITU students, academic and administrative staff are provided with healthy, balanced, tasty, and high-quality meals in environments where food safety is ensured in accordance with legal regulations.

Our Vision (Our Goal)

The goal of the ITU Food Services Branch Directorate is to be a leader and reference point among university cafeterias and to continuously improve service quality in line with guest requests, thereby increasing guest demand and satisfaction.

Kitchens

• ITU Ayazağa Campus 75th Anniversary Student Social Center Kitchen
• ITU Gümüşsuyu Campus Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Kitchen
• ITU Maçka Campus Atrium Kitchen
• ITU Tuzla Campus Faculty of Maritime Sciences Kitchen

Cafeterias 

• ITU Ayazağa Campus 75th Year Student Social Center Student Cafeteria
• ITU Ayazağa Campus 75th Year Student Social Center Academic and Administrative Staff Cafeteria
• ITU Ayazağa Campus İMKB Vadi Male Student Dormitory Cafeteria
• ITU Gümüşsuyu Campus Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Student Cafeteria 
• ITU Gümüşsuyu Campus Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Gümüşsuyu Academic and Administrative Staff Cafeteria 
• ITU Maçka Campus Atrium Student Cafeteria 
• ITU Maçka Campus Atrium Academic and Administrative Staff Cafeteria
• ITU Taşkışla Campus Architecture Faculty Student Cafeteria
• ITU Taşkışla Campus Architecture Faculty Academic and Administrative Staff Cafeteria
• ITU Tuzla Campus Maritime Faculty Student, Academic and Administrative Staff Cafeteria

You can find the meal times at this link.
You can access meal prices via this link.

In accordance with the provisions of the legislation, part of the meal costs are covered by meal fees collected from our students and university staff, while a significant portion is subsidized from our university's own revenues. Our students and academic and administrative staff can eat their meals using their ID cards (automation system). The automation system is implemented in all our dining halls.
 
During the academic year, meal services are provided to an average of 14,000 people daily. Our Directorate provides free meal scholarships to approximately 2,000 students each year.

Food Safety

• Quality in mass catering is a combination of many parameters.
• Our staff consists of experienced chefs who receive training every year.
• Every month, samples of ready-to-eat meals, drinking and utility water, ambient air, equipment culture, and hand culture are taken from our cafeterias by an accredited laboratory, transported to the laboratory without breaking the cold chain, and subjected to microbiological analysis.
• Witness samples are taken from all meal varieties produced each day and stored in a cold room for 72 hours.
• Quality and hygiene inspections of our cafeterias, kitchens, and suppliers are carried out regularly.
  The cleaning and disinfection of our kitchens and cafeterias is carried out regularly and in accordance with the rules every day.
• Drinking water is supplied in polycarbonate packaging, and modern water dispensers and disposable plastic cups are used for meals.
• Organic and recyclable waste is collected separately in our kitchens and dining halls and collected by the municipality using different vehicles.
• Waste oil is given to a licensed recycling company.
• Every month, certified personnel from a company with a service adequacy certificate provide pest control services to our kitchens and dining halls.
• The environments where meals are prepared at Istanbul Technical University comply with food safety standards. In 2013, an Operating License Certificate was obtained for all our kitchens by applying to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock of the Republic of Turkey. All our kitchens and dining halls are regularly inspected by food engineers from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock of the Republic of Turkey.

Menus

Menus are prepared monthly under the supervision of our director by a team consisting of a food engineer, food technician, and head chef, taking into account the nutritional content of the foods served, with energy values ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 kcal. Monthly and daily menus are posted on our website. The basic nutritional elements and calorie values of the foods on the menu can be viewed on the ITU Mobile application.

Four types of meals are served per meal in our student cafeterias. These are:

         1. Variety: soup/salad/yogurt/cacık/söğüş and similar items,

         2. Variety: meat-based main course,

         3. Variety: rice/pasta/börek/olive oil dishes and similar items,

         4. Variety: fruit/salad/yogurt/cacık/dessert (milk-based, dough-based) and similar items.

In addition, vegetarian main courses are offered as an alternative to the main course at lunch for our vegan and vegetarian students.

Procurement

The raw materials, equipment, and supplies required by the ITU Food Services Branch Directorate are determined based on monthly menus and needs. Raw materials and supplies are procured by the ITU Health, Culture, and Sports Directorate Procurement Branch Directorate through tenders or negotiations, using technical specifications. The technical specifications used in the procurement of goods and services are prepared by our food engineers in accordance with the provisions of the laws, regulations, circulars, standards, and other national and international legislation in force and are continuously revised. Contractor companies are required to have Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock Business Registration or Business Approval Certificates and to implement the ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System Standard or the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) Food Safety System. In addition, contractor companies are periodically inspected by our manager, food engineers, and food technicians in terms of hygiene and product safety. Delivered goods are inspected by our inspection commissions, and any necessary raw material analyses are performed by an accredited laboratory in accordance with the specifications outlined in the technical specifications.

Technical Service

Our authorized service providers and technical teams regularly inspect and perform maintenance and repair work on kitchens, storage areas, dining halls, and other units.

Infrastructure

Natural gas is used in all our kitchens.

The water used must be compliant with regulations, continuous, and sufficient. For this reason, our 75th Year Student Social Center, Gümüşsuyu, and Maçka Dining Halls have water tanks with purification systems that meet these conditions. There is also a water tank belonging to the ITU Faculty of Maritime Sciences at our Tuzla Campus.

To mitigate the risk of power outages, generators are installed in the buildings of the 75th Year Student Social Center Cafeteria, the Maçka Atrium Building Student and Staff Cafeteria, and the Gümüşsuyu Student and Staff Cafeteria.

Records

Statistical information regarding storage, inventory control, costs, etc., is recorded on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. Monthly meal cost calculations are made taking into account the costs of goods and services and the number of people eating.