The Agrifood Abruzzo freezing facility is located in the Fucino plain and is surrounded by 14 thousand hectares producing all kinds of vegetables. "It only takes us three hours to freeze vegetables after they are harvested, which is very good when it comes to quality," explains director Gianluca Del Corvo.
The facility in Celano, in the Fucino plain (L'Aquila)
"What is more, the produce coming from Puglia, Lazio and Campania is transferred in just 5 hours, so everything is extremely quick," adds Germano Picco, President of Agrifood Abruzzo.
Spinach after washing
A lot of produce is frozen between November and January. Companies require a lot of produce and consumption is high. Things slow down in spring, also because there is not a lot of raw material available. Then everything picks up again in summer - consumption is not high but we stock up for winter.
Diced spinach before frosting
Freshplaza visited the facility on 5th April. Three out of seven lines were operative, two for spinach and one for carrots. After being washed, cooked and sorted, spinach are diced and frozen. The company introduced leaf vegetable processing in 2010.
2.5 kg bag for the H&R industry
30% of the produce is destined to the processing industry, another 30% is destined to the H&R sector and the rest goes to retailers. The brand is Passione Verde. The facility is also the headquarters of Associazione Marsicana Produttori Patate. Of course the company uses mainly patate del Fucino Igp, thus focusing on local productions.
Diced carrots
As for carrots, the outer peel is literally "blown up" with 12 atmospheres after washing, then carrots are cleaned with brushes. The tips are cut and the optical reader also eliminates any other part with a different colour.
Sante del Corvo, director
"We freeze around 27 thousand tons of produce every year. It comes mainly from Fucino, Marche and Puglia depending on the season. The produce is collected in Covalpa Abruzzo according to strict production specifications," concludes Agrifood director Sante del Corvo.
Contacts:
Agrifood Abruzzo
Stabilimento: Borgo Strada 14,
67043 Celano (AQ)
Sede: Via San Bernardino 196,
25018 Montichiari (BS)
Tel.: (+39) 030.9981530
Email: info@agrifood.it
Web: agrifood.it