CONSERVE ITALY

Being a leader is part of Conserve Italia Group’s DNA. The seventies represented a period of expansion for the agri-food industry in Italy, especially for co-operative organisations. Conserve Italia was founded in 1976 as a sales organisation for the distribution of the Calpo co-operative products under the brand VALFRUTTA. Fourteen other co-operatives, for fruit, vegetable and tomato produce became stakeholders in Conserve Italia which gave this new sales organisation the opportunity to further develop and market products under the brand VALFRUTTA. The Group’s mission is clear and aims to create added value through its products with a strategy of excellence orientated towards the market requirements with a consequent industrial and sales strategy for future growth. The development during the seventies and eighties saw the progressive expansion of the Group's industrial base with the construction of new plants with standardised Quality Controls. The eighties also marked the beginning of the internationalisation of the Group with the opening, in 1983, of the London based subsidiary, Mediterranean Growers. This was the start of a new era for acquisitions both in Italy and Europe.