For the second year running, the major dairy products business has obtained voluntary animal welfare certification – according to the protocol created by the CReNBA for the Parmigiano Reggiano supply chain – in accordance with the stringent firm’s policies on sustainability and environmental quality.

 

Supply chain sustainability has always been at the heart of DalterFood Group’s interests – and clearly, such attitudes are borne out in the actions of the Sant’Ilario d’Enza-based business. As the parent company of the Parmigiano Reggiano supply chain, the company has obtained animal welfare certification for the second year running, becoming the only entity in the Parmigiano Reggiano district to do so. This voluntary product certification proves that the Parmigiano Reggiano from the DalterFood Group supply chain – whether whole cheeses, grated or in portions – is made by farms with animal welfare certification.

The recently awarded certification – issued by Certiquality – follows the CReNBA protocol, the Italian National Reference Centre for Animal Welfare. This organisation is recognised by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies – the benchmark document in Italy with regards to this issue, given the lack of a European animal welfare standard. 

However, above and beyond this, DalterFood Group’s CReNBA-certified Parmigiano Reggiano has also achieved compliance with standard UNI EN ISO 22005:2008 on Agri-Food Supply Chain Traceability.

Certified animal welfare throughout supply chain

  

Achieving the additional traceability standard means DalterFood Group can guarantee its customers and consumers that the milk used to make its Parmigiano Reggiano comes only from farms with animal welfare certification. In fact, the Group’s farms respect the ‘Five freedoms of animal welfare’, which are also recognised at European level. These are: freedom from hunger, thirst and poor nutrition; freedom from discomfort; freedom from disease and injury; freedom to express normal behaviour; and freedom from fear and stress.


To achieve this stringent certification, DalterFood Group’s selected farms had to pass strict checks involving company management and staff training, as well as the state of conservation and hygiene of their facilities and equipment and biosafety policies.

Much more than just covering milk collection, CReNBA Animal Welfare certification involves everyone in the Parmigiano Reggiano production chain, including the 40 farms and two cheese factories where raw milk is processed, and the maturing rooms where PDO Parmigiano Reggiano ages slowly. This certification also monitors the cutting, portioning and packaging phases that take place at the factory in Sant’Ilario d’Enza, as well as the end product storage warehouses where it waits to be shipped out to Italy and around the world.

 

“Parmigiano Reggiano has always been a product that can express the values of its original region – and we want to convey these values in our products and through our work”, explained Andrea Guidi, the General Manager of DalterFood Group. “This is why we trusted an accredited independent organisation to certify the animal welfare all along our supply chain, and not just at the farms”.

Strong investment in sustainable systems 

Achieving this certification is part of many investments DalterFood Group has made in the environment and the region in which Parmigiano Reggiano is produced. In fact, over the last few years, the company has invested in a series of steps in terms of sustainability, with the goal of continuously reducing its environmental impact across the entire supply chain. 

The group has promoted and financed the adoption of renewable energy systems, installed cutting-edge waste water treatment systems at cheese factories, and was the first hard cheese producer in Italy to adopt 100-per-cent recyclable packaging for various product lines.