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Change the 2005 cured meats decree to bring it up to speed with technological innovation. This is what Rovagnati is asking the government, which is working on the dossier together with Assica, the association that brings together Italian cured meat producers. The goal is to finally be able to call products that do not use nitrites “cooked ham”. «Seven years ago – explains Gabriele Rusconi, general director of Rovagnati – the WHO recommended a reduction in the consumption of foods containing nitrites because they are potentially carcinogenic. At Rovagnati, with the help of some American and European universities, we have long developed a proprietary technology that allows us to preserve cooked ham without the use of nitrites. But according to Italian legislation, cooked meat without nitrites cannot be called ham.” Thus, the Rovagnati one is forced to be called Grancotto.
The cured meats decree was born out of the need to guarantee the food safety of products, for example from the risk of botulism. But in the meantime the research has continued and changed the cards on the table. The European Union itself, a few weeks ago, approved a regulation which aims to reduce the use of nitrites as food additives by 20% within two years. «France – adds Rusconi – is even proposing to reduce the presence of nitrites to zero, given that 50% of its consumers already choose without this type of preservative. Even in the USA the issue of nitrites is very sensitive.”
France and the United States are among the countries on which Rovagnati is betting the most today, together with Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore. And in fact the recently approved investment plan in research and development of 11 million euros is dedicated to international expansion. «We only started to enter seriously into foreign markets five years ago – says Rusconi – to these new consumers we have chosen not to present ourselves as the company that makes traditional cured meats, but as creators of innovative products, which is why we invest in R&D . In 2022 exports represented only 6% of turnover, this year we will reach 9%. As for revenues more generally, for 2023 we expect growth of 5-6% in value compared to the 337 million euros in 2022. But in terms of volume the trend will be flat.”
However, 2024 will be affected by the unknowns of consumption and a new increase in energy costs driven by the escalation of the conflict in Israel. «As producers of cured meats – adds Rusconi – we also have to deal with a lower availability of pork. In Germany, production has decreased by 20%: due to the price being too low in the past, German farmers have decided to switch to cattle, which are more profitable.” Today, however, the price of pork has grown: «We are at the highest level in the last twenty years – says Rusconi – and in Italy the price is also growing because farmers have to deal with the extra costs for safety made obligatory by the spread of of swine fever, and I expect these costs to remain stable next year.”